Local News and Notes.

Lake Wakatip Mail, Volume II, Issue 58, 18 November 1863, Page 4

Local News and Notes.

We are requested by the hon. secretary to acknowledge the receipt of £2O in aid of the funds of the Hospital, received through Messrs. Lawton and Co., Moke Creek, being their own subscription of £5, and fifteen other annual subscribers. On Monday evening a dinner was given at Bracken's Hotel to Mr Jarvis, Government surveyor of works, on the ocoasion of his departure from Queenstown. A goodly number of the friends of that gentl<man assembled, and a pleasant evening passed away without any hitch or contretemps. We have good reason to regret the early departure of Mr Jarvis, who has won the esteem of all who have been connected with him during his stay here, and whose hearty good wishes will accompany him when he leaves. A petition has arrived in Queenstown from the miners of the Upper Shotover, numerously signed, for transmission to the authorities iu Dunedin, praying for the return of Mr Warden Williamson. However gratifying such a mark of confidence and esteem may be, coming as it does as the spontaneous wish of the miners of the Upper Shotover, we expect it will not be very pleasant news to that gentleman, as his ' district is ab mt one of the most rugged and disagreeable that can be conceived. It is scarcely fair that because Mr Williamson happens to be the i( right man in the right place," he should suffer by the shortcomings of his confreres in office. If his experience, skill, and atteution, elevate him to the first rank as a Warden, and qualifies him pre-eminently for fulfilling his duties on such a "pill" as the Upper Shotover, he deserves a salary proportionate to his merits. The residents of the Lake district must feel highly honored by the notice that has been so kindly taken of them since the advent of their tl celebrated" petition. Within a fortnight four leading articles have been devoted to them, while heretofore not a line was deigned to expose and redress their grievances. The worm has at last turned, and abject fright is depicted in the visages «f their oppressors. Per Rowley's Express, the Witness of Friday has arrived, and again they are saluted with a leading article. They are informed therein that the Witnes is "quite willing t« admit that the Luke district has just grounds of complaint against the Otago Government" and that "it is quite true that the Government has not fully met the exigencies of the Lake district," but yet that "it is childish folly to hold the Government responsible," &c. Such reasoning as this is beyond answering. The Telegraph told them but a day ago that it was the policy of the General Government to weaken the South by fomenting local jealousies and splitting it up into numerous petty provinces, and here they are told that the Assembly " will never consent to any partition of the Provinces." There is a screw loose somewhere among our Dunedin Monitors, implying that without exactly knowing what to say, they are trying to make the best of a bad job, and give rigmarole excuses in place of arguments. The last paragraph deserves to be printed in letters of gold. "It would be well if we manifested a more thoroughly practical desire for improvement" as u there appears to be a disposition to apply to the Government on any and every trivial occasion, when a little personal effort and practical application would remove the difficulty." What have we asked the Government for ? A road or two and a bridge over the Shotover! The first not before the private purses of the residents of Queenstown had been applied to for tracks to the Shotover, and those of the Arrow for the same means of communication with its outlying districts and Skipper's. The second, after six bridges constructed by private enterprise over the Shotover had been washed away. Such remarks as above quoted may have a certain* weight elsewhere, but not here, where all the circumstances are known. The first expression of indignation brought np Mr Pyke—perhaps the petition may have tha effect of attracting to the shores of the Lake, his Super-iliustriousness, Mr J. H. Harris himsexf.

It may be as well, perhaps, to direct the attention of the residents of this township to a recent decision of Mr. Warden Hickson, which is reported in the letter of our Arrow correspondent. The question as to whether the provisions of the Town and Country Police Ordinance apply to other than proclaimed townships, has been repeatedly discussed in our Improvement Committee; and it must be satisfactory to all lovers of cleanliness and decency to know that efficient action can be taken against those who infringe the laws they impose upon us. An instance of Lynch law has taken place on the Shotover during the past week, which, however objectionable in the abstract, is often in individual cases very effective. An habitus of the "logs" for the last nine months for numerous petty offences, on a repetition of his peculiar practices, was treated to summary punishment in the'shape of an unmerciful beating by the miners. Perhaps this may be productive of more benefit, both to the " patient" and his victims, than the lighter sentence of a week or two'B imprisonment. There is not much to report in the way of mining news at the present season, all the energy of the great bulk of the miners being devoted towards the completion of works not directly productive, but which are necessary to enable them to prosecute their search with success. Gold comes in but slowly, though occasionally good parcels are sold. A rush has taken place on the left-hand branch of Skippei's, where some men have been working "on the quiet" for some time. The prospect is said to be first-rate. Another meeting has been held by the Otago miners on the Warden-famine —this time at the Teviot, on the removal of Mr Warden Robinson to the Dunstan. It must be in the highest degree gratifying to the Government to hear of such resolutions as the following, and proves the "little cause for complaint" existing on the gold fields, dwelt on with such unction by the Dunedin press:—" That in the opinion of this meeting the Government of this Province is inflicting a gross injustice upon this district by removing Mr Warden Robinson." We have been requested to inform the public that the il celebrated petition " will lie two days for signature at the office of Mr Bradshaw, gold broker, Rees street. The Daily Times announces the following appointments as having been gazetted—" Mr. John Worthington, to be Mining Registrar and Gold Receiver at Queenstown; Richard Beetham, M.D., to be Visiting Justice of the Gaol at Queenstown." Passing over the error in the Christian name of our respected Warden, we would remark, concerning the u M.D." that we were not acquainted with the fact of his belonging to the medical profession. A " storm in a teapot" was raised a week ago by a certain practitioner denouncing his fellow surgeons in this district as quacks, with the interesting addition, to nervous patients, that they lacked that great essential—a diploma. We should st ongly advise him to take similar steps with regard to Mr. Beetham : perhaps the result will be as satisfactory as its predecessor, and will certainly be no less amusing.