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Lake Wakatip Mail, Volume II, Issue 81, 6 February 1864, Page 4

The following is the amount of gold forwarded 1 per last escort to Dunedin : Queenstown - - 3984 ozs 0 dwt. Arrow - - - - 1974 „ 0 ~ 5958 ozs. 0 dwt. We are requested to acknowledge the receipt of £5 from Mr W. K. Johnstone, a late inmate of the Hospital from the Arrow, and whose case was referred to in a former report by the house steward. If the patients would follow this example—and the committee are informed that many of the patients who have obtained aid from j the hospital are in a position to do so—the funds of the institution would be aided at a critical , period, the hospital being crowded with dange- ! rous cases. The secretary also wishes to ac- ! knowledge the receipt from Mr J. Harding of 26 j testaments and sundry tracts. | The Improvement Committee met on Thursday evening. Present—Messrs Weaver (chair) Carey, Angus, Bracken and R. Harris. The minutes of the previous meeting were confirmed, when it was moved by Mr Harris, seconded by Mr Bracken, and carried —"That a public meeting of the inhabitants of Queenstown be called on Monday next, at Bracken's Hotel, to consider the advisability of forming a municipality for the town ; and also for the purpose of electing three members of committee, in place of Messrs Willis, M'Gaw and Cass, resigned." It. Beetham, Esq., R.M., at the suggestion of his Honor the Superintendent, waited upon the committee to arrange for a meeting for the purpose of selecting a site for a public recreation ground, and also one for a cemetery. It was accordingly agreed to meet at 2 p.m. on Saturday (this day). A vote of thanks to the chair closed the proceedings. On Thursday, at the Resident Magistrate's Court, Mr J. Silberberg sued Mr Todd for £2O damages sustained to character and credit by fa.se imprisonment. This arose from an extremely paltry ease of alleged card-sharping, and ; was referred to by us in a previous issue. His j Worship gave a verdict for £lO. We regret to say that an apathy perfectly un- | accountable prevented any of those interested in the prospecting of the Gorge attending Mr Carey's invitation to arrange for an amateur performance in aid of the project. Not a solitary man "showed," and after waiting for some time, Mr Carey withdrew, naturally somewhat disgusted. This is greatly to be regretted, as we are now deprived of the services of that gentleman, he having left for Invercargill yesterday, so that this ready means of obtaining additional funds is utterly lost. We may add that Mr Carey takes with him the good wishes of all here. Both on the score of his professional abilities and of his private character, his departure is sincerely : regretted. !

A correspondent at Kingston writes—On Wednesday morning Kingston was visited by a gale which for duration and violence may entitle it to be considered the most severe storm that has yet occurred at this end of the Lake. It blew strongly all night, and about three in the morning it came on a perfect hurricane. As the day broke, the inhabitants might be seen hurrying from their horses in a state more easily imagined than described, as each saw with anmement not unmixed with apprehension his neighbor's roof in strips, floating in the wind. About half-past four attention was drawn to the fact that immediate measures were necessary to place the s.s. Expert in a more sheltered position than that

she then occupied—viz., the tl Port Admiral's jetty " The captain ordered steam to be got up, intending to put out; but owing to there being such a sea on, while in the act of starting, she broached to, her funnel went by the board in a squall, she became qirte unmanageable, and in a few minutes was deposited, broadside-on, high up on the beach. Every exertion was made to prevent the vessel from becoming a total wreck, as at this time the water was breaking over her in tons, and the spray was blown about to such an extent as to positively deluge the town. Part of the roof of the Bank of New Zealand was removed, the St. John's Hotel suffered severely, as also, in a minor degree, many other places in the town.

We have been informed by a gentleman returned from the Dunstan, that an amusing cir" cumstance occurred there in relation to the J.P«

agitation. It appears that the Progress Committee of that township had taken three gentlemen under their wing to get them created J.P.'s, and called a meeting of the inhabitants to sanction this proceeding. The meeting took place on Monday evening atKilgour's Hotel, but the said three gentlemen, to spare their "conscious modesty," did not show up; and the meeting therefore amused themselves with canvassing the merits of other gentlemen. The candidates for this doubtful honor, however, seemed to have been remarkably few, as almost every individual nominated, energetically repudiated any claim ; and it w r as not till after the expenditure of a considerable amount of time, labor, and breath, that the bellman of the town, a saddler, and a tailor of bacchanalian propensities were elected, amidst the laughter and cheers of a house crammed to excess. We are glad to see the Dunstan is taking the initiative in casting deserved ridicule on the insane desire manifested by a few individuals, possessed of more ambition than sense, to perpetuate in Otago the abominable course of Victoria in this respect. We can very well afford to do without the " great unpaid" judicial quacks that at present disgrace the sister colony.

The joint benefit of Miss Dobelle and Mr Jones took place on Thursday at the Royal. The pieces presented were, "A Curious Case," " The Blighted Being," and " The Man about Town." In the former piece, Mr W. G. Carey played Twiggleton very naturally, exhibiting that gentleman's prying propensities in the most amusing manner. In the last piece, Mr Dale of course set the house in a roar. The boxing scene between him and Tops (Mr Carey) being especially good. Both gentlemen were honored with a call before the curtain. On the whole the performance was a success. The house was moderately attended.

WARDEN'S COURT.

I Before Richmond Beetham, Esq., Warden, and Assessors. IMPORTANT MINING CASE. ! Stony Beach Sluicing Company v. the Arthur's Point Race Company. This was a re-hearing, granted on the recom- | mendation of his Honor the Superintendent, of a i case tried on Tuesday, 26th ult., the complaint ! being then encroachment, and breach of agreeI ment in not paying a certain sum due. The I secand clause was withdrawn in the present case, the money having been paid, according to the previous verdict of the jury: the complaint was therefore simply for encroachment. Mr Shepherd appeared for the defence; the plaintiffs conducted their own case. Mr Shepherd objected to the re-hearing, and cited the 21st clause of the Warden's Court Rules, in which such re-hearing is only allowed in " the absence of any party interested in the subject matter of the suit." He contended that as no such ground had been shown the re-hearing was informal; the proper course left for the plaintiffs being an appeal. His Worship overruled the objection. Mr Anderson objected to the appearance of Mr Shepherd, he not being a barrister, or entitled to appear, under the 9th Rule of the Wardens Court. This was also over-ruled. Mr Anderson then, in stating the case, said that the party represented by himself consisted of fourteen members, and that twelve months work, in addition to about £2OOO had been expended by them in order to work their claim. the middle of August last, Hyde's party applied to this Court for permission to cut a race at Arthur's Point, and the line of the proposed race going through their claim, they objected, but withdrew their opposition on certain conditions, contained in the following agreement:— Agreement between J. G. Anderson, J. G. Adams, and W. Miller, representing three parties of amalgamation, named the Stony Beach Sluicing Company. Objections removed on the following conditions : Ist. That the holders of the Race applied for (see application) shall assist the objectors in working out their claims in the manner and to the extent hereunto annexed — *l. By placing not less than fourteen men to work the ground under the supervision ana with the assistance of the holders of said claims. The

said men to work under the direction of the said Company, so far as the thorough and satisfactoryproduction of gold is concerned. 2. A breadth of fifty feet by the length of the claim, in the direction of the llace to be worked as aforesaid, with this proviso, viz.: Should it be shown to the satisfaction of a Warden's Court that if after the working of the afoiesaid fifty feet in breadth, unwoiked ground still exists in the claim at such a depth that it shall be impossible to work it in the event of the water iiooi

I the river being turned into the race, then it shall | be left to the Warden to determine the extent | and boundaries of such ground to be worked ] under the conditions hereinbefore specified. Be it always understood that the owners of the ; said claims, or their hired servants, shall assist ! in working the ground throughout. j 3. A breadth of not less than a hundred feet in I length, according to the decision of the Warden, ! shall be left below the aforesaid claim, and shall I be maintained there until the above-mentioned 1 conditions shall have been complied with to the ! satisfaction of the Warden. | 4. A serviceable bridge shall be constructed j by the Race party, which, in the event of being j washed away, shall be replaced from time to i time in a convenient spot for traffic, from the j claim of the Stony Beach Sluicing Company I and over the race. Agreed to on the part of Raceholders and objectors.

(Signed) Richmond Beethaal 16th August, 1863. * Clause 1, proviso 1, for washing purposes. In the event of water failing, no obstacle will be thrown by the holders of the claim in the way of working the ground. Subsequently, for the purpose of facilitating the operations of nhe race party, a second agreement was made, as follows: Memorandum of Agreement between Walter Miller, representing the Stony Beach Sluicing Company of the one part, and William Drinkwater Hyde, representing the Arthur's Point Flood Race party, Shotover River, of the other part, wherein the said Sluicing Company,(for the consideration of receiving from said Flood Race Party the sum of Two Hundred and Eighty Pounds (£280) cash (that is to say on or before the twenty-third day of January, eighteen hundred and sixty-four, 1864 a.d.), agree to cede to taid Flood Race Party all their ground on the river side of said race, such ground to be registered for the Stony Beach Sluicing Company until the Flood Race Party has finished with the use of it. Flood Race Party to give to said Sluicing Company all the wash-dirt in the course of the Race, which can be produced where three hand-pumps properly manned can reach it, and to assist in working the ground belonging to said Sluicing Company on the upper side of the Flood Race, prior to the river being turned into it, should it be shown to the satisfaction of a Warden's Court, that the Sluicing Company can make One Pound (£1) per man per diem, by working it. (Signed) For the Arthur's Point Race Party— W. D. Hyde. For the Stony Beach Sluicing Company— Walter Miller. Witness—John S. Worthington, Gold Receiver, Queenstown. This fourteenth day of January, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-four. After a few additional remarks, he called Walter Miller, who said—l am a shareholder in the Stony Beach Sluicing Company, and have been foreman of the works for some time past.

j When Mr Hyde wished to make arrangements j with us to cede the deep portion of our ground on the river side of the race, I asked him to define the course of his race by pegs, that I could j show to our company what ground we were i losing. We agreed to cede a portion of the j ground to the race party for £2BO. They were I to give us the wash-dirt in the course of the ! race, and were also to assist us in working the | ground on the upper side of the race, if it could | be shown to the satisfaction of a Warden's Court | that we could make £l per man per day out of j it. They have failed to comply with this agreement. We protested against the fourth crate j from the bottom ot our ground being placed I while they were making preparations for putting it in. Previous to that Mr Hyde had told me that they would put in the crates as we took up the bottom in the inside of the indication pegs. We gave permission to the race company to put in the first three crates. In accordance with the last agreement we went to work in the course of the race along with the race party. We had taken off the bottom a little more than the width of a crate, in the eastern end of the race, when Mr Hyde said to me that as the water was low, it would be a good chance to get the first crate put in. We assented, but told him to take care and not go too near the old ground and let the water in upon us. He did let the water in, in placing the first crate. We had then two pumps in. He expressed his sorrow, and ordered his men to put in another pump. We still continued lifting wash-dirt in the course of the race, while they made preparations to put in another crate. When they had got to the level of the second crate Hyde asked us to allow the bottom to remain, so that the crate might be placed and filled up behind so as to stop the water. We had built an embankment at the western end of our claim to prevent our being flooded, and Hyde broke through it into the old ground. It will greatly injure our claim. The embankment substituted by the Race Company is not as good as the one we had before. I have worked with a cradle on the ground before we amalgamated, and could always make good wages. We have had some very good paddocks—out of one ten feet square we got 22 ozs. That was at the eastern end of the claim.

By Mr Shepherd—Mr Hyde put in the pegs I to define the course of the race. At the time the ground was ceded, there were two rows of pegs, to mark out the two sides of the race. | The complaint of encroachment I make is in reference to ground between those two rows. ; We complain that there is a portion of the washI dirt between the two lines of pegs that we have i not received. What I call an encroachment is I the loss accruing to us by our partv not receiving ' the wash-dirt, and by their placing the crates

upon it inside of the river-side row of pegs. I consider the ground inside the race ours until the wash-dirt is lifted. The Race Company have no right, by virtue of the i>2Bo purchase-money to any ground inside the two lines of pegs until we had received the wash-dirt. About 40 or 50 men cut the race between the two rows of pegs. They took possession of the ground in pursuance of the agreement, but they did not fulfil its conditions. The ground could have been cut perpendicularly on the river side of the race. It would have stood withoat crates till tne water were put in, when it would have caved in. The old embankment at the west end of the claim was from three to four feet high. Such floods as we have had for the past fortnight would have passed over the dam—the water did not soak through. It was not necessary for them to cut through the dam till they had taken out the wash-dirt. When they reached the dam they had cut through all our claim. They went through it against our will, as they had not fulfilled the conditions of the agreement. They did not cut the race the width they had marked out by pegs. It was four months ago when we got the 22 oz. paddock. I will not swear it was six months: I don't know exactly. Four oz. to a paddock nine feet square is the poorest yield we have had from our claim. I cannot tell what our earnings have been per week per man. It might have been about £6; lam not sure. las secretary only keep a book of the proceedings of the committee. The treasurer, Peter Baraet, keeps a book of receipts and expenditure. By Mr Anderson—The height of the river wall referred to was between three and four feet. I do not consider the embankment put up by the Race Company equal to ours. The distance of the best paddock from the race was about twenty feet. There has been good gold obtained between there and the race. By the Bench—A wall three or four feet high would not be sufficient for the purposes of the Race Company. By the Jury—l consider that gold has been got out of the race in quantities sufficient to yield £7 to £lO per week per man. [Being desirous of giving this important case in full, we are compelled, through pressure of space, to hold over the major portion till our next.]