The Lake Wakatip Mail. Queenstown, Wednesday, June 3, 1863.

Lake Wakatip Mail, Volume I, Issue 10, 3 June 1863, Page 4

The Lake Wakatip Mail. Queenstown, Wednesday, June 3, 1863.

An Englishman grumbles by inherent right. A hearty damn is the safety valve whereby the dangerous element in him escapes. (He rather likes, however, to see his growlings heeded.) There is not existent any animal so instinctively just as an Englishman. He is a man of order and obeys the law. He does so in the same way as a big man obeys a little wife—he knows that it is all for his good, and feels more amused than annoyed when his face is slapped. Even if the blow is painful he will bear it quietly, provided the hit comes straight from the shoulder, and that nothing is there carrying a shadow of foul play. He detests double dealing, and until he finds that he is being deceived and played with, he is altogether a manageable man. He knows his power, and when he is being trifled with he falls back on his dignity. He becomes annoyed when he finds that any one tries to lead him on the ice, and dangerous if he is tripped up on slippery ground. He takes it for granted when he sees a man doing a certain thing that he will carry it out. He will shout " shame " upon him if he does not do qp; in short, it is the idiosyncrasy of an Englishman to follow what is upright, and to resist all that savours of dishonesty.

A practical illustration of this was furnished on the evening of Monday last. A "monster" meeting was called to consider the question of the removal of the Camp from Queenstown to Frankton. The John Bull element was plainly evinced, and men earnest and thoughtful addressed that meeting. They felt that they were being made sufferers through those who had incompetently represented them; they felt that they were being made victims to circumlocution ; they felt, in short, that they had been deceived and betrayed, and this without receiving* any consideration from Government equivalent to the consideration that Government had received from them, —they were being used improperly. Punica fides expresses the position of the Government towards the inhabitants of Queenstown. Unfortunately, however, the town has grown until it carries weight of itself. Whatever Mr. John Hyde Haebis or our other Governor, Mr. St. John Bbanigan may do is of little importance in this matter. We care not if a Camp be established at Frankton —Government may jriease itself as to this: but it must not leave a place like Queenstown without a Court and Resident Magistrate. We have no doubt that, in addition to St. John's Town, at the foot of the Lake, the inhabitants will allow the name of Queenstown to be changed to'' Mort Town," or any other town, provided that we are left a Resident Magistrate and Court. We will fool St. John, or any other, to the top of his bent, provided he does not try to hurt us. The people of Queenstown followed the miners to supply them with requisites of living. They found it profitable to do so. By so doing they were benefited, and so were the diggers. Government profited also—the Wakatip fields and the township of Queenstown are the "golden holes" of Otugo. A place of this importance must not be

neglected. If necessary, those in Dunedin must be taught that there has grown up on the shore of the Lake Wakatip, a township of as much importance as Dunedin itself; that Queenstown represents the interests of those who produce to Otago its principal revenue; that, irrespective of Government influence, Queenstown will foster itself, and that the removal of the Camp toFrankton will be productive of much mischief; in short, that Queenstown has outgrown them, and they must accept its existence as an accomplished fact, and prepare to administer law to its inhabitants We do not object to the establishment of a Government township at Frankton. We do, however, object to being compelled to transact business at Frankton Government may, in its wisdom, station our Magistrate and Court in the middle of Sahara or the top of Ararat; but they must not deprive us of a Court and access to a Magistrate. We speak strongly on this matter, because we look upon it as a thing of life and death to the people of this district. We have submitted to the monopoly of a squatter, to the impertinence of police, and many other things that, as Englishmen, we should not have done; but we are tired of all these now, and they must have an end. We have no doubt that there are those amongst us who will lick any spittle, and declare that " whatever is, is right." We know, however, that we carry with us the sympathy of the inhabitants, and believe that we express their sentiments. With the recollection of Maryborough and the Ballarat riots fresh in their memory, surely the Government of Otago will not leave a place of this importance without a Magistrate. If Frankton, with twelve residents, requires a Court House and a staff of officials, wnat are the requirements of Queenstown?