Local News and Notes.

Lake Wakatip Mail, Volume I, Issue 12, 10 June 1863, Page 4

Local News and Notes.

Several persons having business at the Court House at Frankton, on Friday last, were very much surprised at finding that no Resident Magistrate was in attendance to adjudicate in the different cases, and after dividing their attention between moribund storekeepers, dismantled tents, and Government buildings, they were informed, at four o'clock, that the Court was adjourned till to-morrow. A meeting of indignant suitors ensued, when the following protest was drawn up, signed, and formally handed to the Clerk of the Court" We, the undersigned, being suitors whose cases were appointed to be heard on this date, at Frankton, cannot avoid expressing our strong regret that the Magistrate appointed to hear these cases, had not thought it necessary to forward an early intimation of his being unable to attend to the extra duties imposed upon him through the absence of Mr. Wood, the Resident Magistrate, whereby they have been detained ail day from their places of business at Qucenstown and the Shotover. But they desire chiefly to draw attention to the fact .hat tb<* inconvenience complained of has arisen from Frankton being the place chosen to hold a Resident Magistrate's Court, an arrangement productive of much loss of time to suitors, and totally unsuited for the wants of the district." We are sorry to be compelled to add that the same thing has been continued ever since, according to numbers of the disappointed. As the season advances, there is likely to be a panic among the storekeepers at Arthur's Point, the workings now approaching the stores and buildings there in a most determinedly menacing manner. The track to Rowley's Express Office is becoming very much like that bridge described by the Mahometans, over which all must pass after death, of the width of a hair, and the sharpness of a scimetar, with a yawning gulf on each side. 44 Where to go to" seems now to be the cry; and if, as the miners seem to believe, the whole of the ground now occupied by the stores, proves to be auriferous, the business men will find themselves to be in a

somewhat queer predicament. Let us hope that their inventive genius will be equal to the emergency. A meeting was held on Saturday evening at Bracken's Hotel, called by Messrs. Bergen and Gash, on the part of the miners of the Shotover, for the purpose of requesting a postponement of the departure of the Queenstown delegates, until the miners could have time to elect one or two of their number to accompany them to Duncdin. The feeling of the meeting was strongly against the proposed postponement, and it was explained that the deputation was sent as much for the miners as for this township. It was proposed that Mr. Bergen accompany the deputation, as the case was urgent, and called for immediate action, but he declined doing so unless elected formally by the miners, themselves. It was then decided that the deputation, consisting of Messrs. Bradshaw and Gordon, should start for town on the following Tuesday (yesterday, when they left Queenstown, per the Victoria.) A committee meeting was subsequently held, when business of a merely routine character was transacted

" Two of a trade can never agree." The truth of this trite adage is being now exen plified in this township, to the chagrin of a few and delight of the many, who consider they are getting their due, now the others have fallen out. The bakers after supplying in the kindest manner, the inhabitants of the town with bread at the modest price of four shillings per loaf, have at last been imbued with a noble spirit of emulation, and are each trying to discover to what impossible rate they can reduce the price of bread. A firm at the corner of Recs and Ballai at-streets astonished the weak nerves of the remaining knights of the dough by announcing that they would sell the four-pound loaf at 2s. 6d. Another instantly offered the same article at 25.; while a third benefactor of mankind, resolved not to be outdone in generosity, has declared his ability and intention of disposing of his bread at Is. 6d. This absurd competition must soon arrive at the vanishing point at this rate. But while the trade is thus engaged at the game of 44 pull devil, pull baker," the gentleman in black being represented by the purse, the public have a right to complain of the exorbitant rate charged before this competition took place. Flour can now be obtained at between £55 and £6O per ton, which at the latter price is £G a bag, and this is capable of being made into 70 four-pound loaves; but as the bread of Queenstown, owing to atmospheric and other causes, is usually three and a-half pounds in weight, it is natural to suppose that the bakers can turn outrmore than that number. However, taking the number we have stated, 70 loaves, as the fair number, the vendor pockets at 4s. per loaf £l4! and deducting the price of the material, leaves him £8 on every bag of flour for profit and expenses —no bad margin, we should think. The firm who took the initiative in reducing this monstrous charge deserve the strongest support. The mails were sent from Kingston on Tuesday by the Young American, the Expert being disabled. It is too bad that the public should have to pay in every way for what occurs. Why were the mails not sent by the Victoria or Wakatip steamers, so that we could have got them about the usual time ? As it is, nobody can tell when they will arrive, and the letters may be delivered about the middle of next week. An accident of an alarming character occurred at Arthur's Point on Sunday evening, the 7th instant, but we are happy to state without serious consequences. A miner named Nicholas in walking to his home about 8 o'clock p.m., fell down a deserted hole, 40 feet in depth, situate in the rear of the London Sforc. Ilis cries soon brought assistance. Mr. Piitchard (who owns the store) and a number of ever kind-hearted miners promptly procured ropes, and lifted the unfortunate man to the surface, who, to the surprise and delignt of all present, soon recovered from the shock, and walked away apparently little the worse for his rapid descent. We hear that this is the second time an accident has occurred at this spot by men having literally walked into this particular man trap. We would recommend to the surrounding miners the advisability of filling in so dangerous a hole, for it is vain in men to delare that they 44 know the road," when on such dark nights as that of the 7th inst., and in such places as Arthur's Point it is enough for the most careful to find their way with safety, even for a distance of 100 yards from their own tents. We insert a letter from a correspondent at the Shotover. Our readers will perceive that it was written bef *rc the late gale and flood.