REMOVAL OF MR. WARDEN BEETHAM. INDIGNATION MEETING AT QUEENSTOWN.

Tuapeka Times, Volume V, Issue 225, 23 May 1872, Page 5

REMOVAL OF MR. WARDEN BEETHAM. INDIGNATION MEETING AT QUEENSTOWN.

(From the Evening Star, May 16th.) A crowded and influential meeting was held in the theatre at Queenstown last evenißg, to consider the action taken in the Provincial Council with a view to obtaining the removal of Warden Beetham. Residents from all parts of the district attended, and the proceedings were orderly throughout. The speakers were the Rev. Messrs Ross (Presbyterian) and Coffey (Episcopalian), Dr Douglass, J.r 1 .; Messrs Richardson, Tully, Manders, Johnson, Carsten, and Smythe, all of whom testified that Mr Beetham was a most upright, impartial, and painstaking magistrate, and the best Warden on the goldh'elds. The speakers stated they considered there were no grounds for the charges made against the Warden, and the Chinese memorial was stigmatised as a dastardly and covert attack dictated by somebody in a spirit of spite and malevolence. It was also hinted that most of the signatures to the Chinese petition were those of " new chums," who had never been on the goldh'eld. Several petitions in favor of the Warden, and intended for presentation to the Provincial Council, were read, and the following resolutions unanimously adopted : — "1. That this meeting having learned ffith surprise of the covert attack made on the character of Warden Beetham, feels called upon to repudiate, with abhorrence, the several charges of prejudice, injustice, and oppression brought against him "2. That, from the lengthened residence of Mr Beetham in the district, and his intimate acquaintance with miners' interests, leases, water-rights, and their circumstances generally, the meeting would deem his removal a positive lose to the community, in*

asmuch as the introduction of a stranger would necessitate loss of time and labor in mastering the details acquired by Mr Beetham through the experience of years. " 3. This meeting cannot allow the present opportunity to pass without expressing its entire confidence in Mr Beetham, whose public conduct has been actuated by impartiality, strict justice, integrity, and diligence. "4. This meeting deems it advisable to have memorials from Chinese and European population forwarded to the Provincial Council."