THE Thames Advertiser TUESDAY, APRIL 13, 1875.

Thames Advertiser, Volume VIII, Issue 2018, 13 April 1875, Page 2

THE Thames Advertiser TUESDAY, APRIL 13, 1875.

The Acting-Premier, Dr Pollen, has resigned the delegated powers, and the goldfields of this province are now left to the care and attention of the " Governor in Council.'' We can get nothing done in the shape of public works, and the whole administration appears to be rapidly drifting into a state of chaos. At the present moment —one of the most critical which has ever been known at the Thames—there is no official head to appeal to, no one to whom the people can look for assistance in opening up the new and promising discoveries just made, and not the slightest concern is shown whether the new localities are made accessible or not to the gold miner. The winter is just upon us, and at a time when every nerve should be strained to open up roads and .tracks that would be passable in the wet weather, we find the Government quietly sitting down to coquet with Sir George Grey about the taking over of the delegated powers. To them it is apparently more important to discuss a question of " policy'' with the Superintendent of this province, than it is to attend to departmental work about a goldfield,

It is astonishing to see the trouble some journals will take to point out the unfavourable repovts received from the new goldfield of Ohinemuri, and the superstructure of caution and condemnation they build up for the purpose of diverting attention from the field. On looking 'more closely into • the motive which prompts such writing, however, we are generally able to trace in it a desire to bolster up the district in which the newspaper circulates, and to retain at all hazards the population within its borders. To some extent this is a laudable anxiety for the interest of the .place and people, but when facts are distorted and fables put forth as verities to give colour to the writing it becomes no longer pardonable, and we should be wanting in our duty as guardian's ; of the interests of the embryo, goldfield if. we allowed such unwarrantable liberties to be taken with its budding existence and remained silent. The 'Otago Daily Times' essayed to frighten its . surplus .mining population from mi. grating to'this'or any other new field' by retailing half the truth and suppressing the most important details. Our contemporary told the public that not. half-a-dozen rneii had gone North : to the new field, when the steamers were bringing their scores. The same paper'disaeminated equally silly stories respecting the Palmer goldfield when enthusiasm was at its highest, respecting the prospects) of that district,' The Otago journal, not • content with decrying: this goldfield, . attempted to asperse the characters of Northern capitalists, and attributed to them, a desire to attract foreign capital' to the field; by exaggerated ' re-, ports of its .character, in; doing this they incurred the righteous indignation of other.journals-:not losfc to.a sense, of honour or justice., v Our Wellington contemporary, the' Times' took his namesake of Otago to task somewhat severely over the insinuation, and the organ of squatocracy came off second best in the attempt to give Auckland a slap in the face over its newly-opened auriferous district. Now, however, we find the same thing is attempted elsewhere. In a journal published in another agricultural and pastoral district, circulating , in an I adjoining province —the. f Timaru Herald '—we. find..some. statements: almost as absurd as those circulated by the Dun'editi paper, ' In the'issue of that newspaper of the 26th. ultimo we find the editor, after stating that "the rush was ■ confined to a few hundred gold-seekers in Auckland, and ■ very few from other places in the colony," boldly asserting that "an examination ' has been made of the Ohinemuri district, and the Aucklanders generally have come., to the ■ conclusion that there'' never was any real ground for the reports circulated with regard to the . field, and ; that. anything but credit : attaches to those'who.originated the' excitement." 'It is quite true that some persons kept up such an excitement respecting the district for yeara previous ,to its opening that it was. thought gold could be.obtained in quantities, the moment. the field was pro- • claimed open. Some of ■ these have been found out, and they are receiving the contempt they, merit. There ~are black sheep in all communities. Those we are referring to lived and prospered on their stories of the wealth of :the-_ Ohinemuri country, and to. such our contemporary would be perfectly 'jugti- .• tied in saying that" anything but credit attaches to them." Yet the exceptions here referred to must not be taken as any argument in favour of the strictures of our contemporaries. For instance,^the'Timaru Herald* adds " Because somebody saw a speck of gold, or something lik& it, -in. some quartz, the report was'started that the country was rich in gold. The gold in the quartz soon'became exaggerated. into gold, in the alluvial, and it was believed that, instead' of existing in mere speck?, there.were rich finds to . be had for the seeking. The belief that gold existed in the district resolved itself into a conviction all the sooner from tbe fact that a Maori aukati Bur'rounded the promised! El Dorado. As toon as the aukati wa3 removed, a rush | followed, and gold was the result; but instead of coming from the earth at Ohinemuri it came out of the diggers', pockets, into the hands of the Government in the. shape of payments of miners' rights. This gold has been.tli'e only precious metal'that has aa'yet. proceeded from the. Ohinemuri field. Although a diligent search was made by the miners, no gold in the alluvial was found, and in the. quartz only the ' 1 ' colour could be discerned." 'If thesestatements ;were true Ohinemuri would not to-day contain some 800 people. Besides, what will Our contemporary say in answer to the results of the numerous tests of Ohinemuri stone which have appeared from time to time, to the sale of portions of interests id some of the areas at .high .figures, and to the expensive litigation lat present going on in reference to. priority of claims to certain pieces of . ground? But we find an excuse for our contemporary in the. last paragraph of bis article, which is; devoted, to bolstering up an old . legend of, the .. existence of gold in the Waiho country, in his own district. The announce- ' ment that "the prospects in connection . with the Waiho goldfield in our own district are a great deal more favour- • able than those, entertained with respect to Ohinemuri,'' is sufficient to account for the statement'quoted above. ■ '

-Mr Cox and 'Mr Mackay, two gentlemen connected with the Geological Department at Wellington, came to the Thames yesterday, ' and will proceed to the Miranda to-day for the purpose of examining the coal Beam there, and seeing if it k connected with the Waikato coal. We do not know whether the orders of these gentlemen would admit of their visiting the recently-discovered coal seam al Ohinemuri, but if not, we hare 110 .doubt that apy • 0 f those connected with it, by telegraphing to X)r Hector, would get him to direct Messrs Cox and Mackay to make a visit. These two gentlemen have lately been at Aotea and Eaglan endeavouring to get liberty from Tawhiao to inspect the coal at Kawhia and Mokau. They found, however,'that his Majesty, from not being of a scientific turn of ■ iftind, could not be made to tee that their inspection of the coal seam would be of any so he declined to give them permis'fl One of the King's councillors said see why they should go to stones;_ they might break stones at other places, and it would all come to the same tiling in the end. A meeting of the Committee of the Thames ' Mechanics' Institute washeld last evening. Present—Mr Severn (presiding), Messrs Ms, J, Bead, T. L. Murray, W.-Berry, A. Dewar, E. N. Smith, K. Binney, J. McQowan, and E, T. Wildman. The Secretary (Mr Wildman) stated that £80 had been received fromtho Provincial Government to enable the Corumittee to purchase the allotment next that on which the .institute stands. A sub-committee was appointed to consider how the property of the institute should be .vested. ■ It was proposed that a gratuity should be given to the Librarian Mr Woodward) for extra , services lately, especially in connection with the'getting up of the catalogue, and the reorganisation of the •library, and it was finally resolved to give him £o, and to make a small addition to his salary. It .was also agreed to put £10 at the disposal of the Library Committee for the purchase of new books. A subcommittee was appointed'to ' consider and report as to the • completion of the Museum in connection with the institute. - We have received from Messrs Langbridge and the publishers, a copy of the "Hand-book to the Bay of Plenty, and Guide to the Hot'Lakea and Boiling Springs, the Healing Baths, the Geysers, the Intermitting Fountains, &c., in the : Bolomahana andTaupo Districts, Province of Auckl?nd, New Zealand." The, work: is well, got up and very neatly '' printed, and is what it really professes to be— a guide.' The work contaius a sketch nsap of the l akes district,- which will be found useful to strangers and visitors. Mr James Craig sold by auction yesterday the Lincoln Castle mine, together with all mining property on it, and'the riqht to the use of the Sons of Freedom tunnel. It was put up for sale under warrant of distress, and was purchased for tbpAlburnia Gold Mining Company for £43.—Mr .Pulleine sold about 400 shares in the Una Company, which were forfeited for non-payment of calls, and they were bought at prices varying' from 2s 4d to 2s 8d per share. The following is the state'of the Thames Goldfield Hospital for the week ending April 10 Remained from last week, 23; admitted, 10; discharged, 4; died, 1; remaining, 28, The diseases are as follows Fever, 4; fracture, 2; rheumatism, 5; pleurisy, 1; debility, 1; bronchitis, 1; asthma, 1; ainpiifatioa 1; heart disease, 1; measles, 3; prarigo, 1; whitlow, 1; gun shot wound, 1; wounds and injuries, 8; disease of liver, 1; congestion of lungs, 1. Bemaining—Males, 25; females, 3; total, 28. Out-patients, 42. A case of scarlatina has been reported in Coburg-street, Auckland. Every effort has been made to isolate the case under the care of . Dr Stockwell. : On Saturday last the employes of Messrs. A. Clark and Son, warehousemen, Auckland, held holiday in honour of the marriage of Mr James • McCosh Clark, which was to take place in Australia on that day. The whole of the emplo<es started for Motnibi on board the steamer 'Scotchman,' with their sweethearts and wives and families, when they enjoyed themselves most heartily. The weather was as lovely as the most fastidious of- pleasure seekers could wish. . The Cross has the following. The scarcity of water is every day becoming more distressing. Every public well or pump is surrounded from an early hour in the morning by an eager crowd striving each to be the first in securing the necessary element. In some parts of the town a charge of one penny per bucket is made by the owners of private wells which still hold some water. For the most part the water is of an inferior quality, and, as the consequence of ' its scarcity, it is made to do more than its fair share of work. The same bucket of ffater, we are assured, is used for scrubbing and cleans- ' ing purposes long after it has ceased to have any claim to limpidness. As described to us, in some houses it is as "black as ink before it is thrown away. Here is an example of funeral reform:— "The body of the late Baron Anselm Rothschild was conveyed from the Frankfort-on-the-Maine station to the grave in a common carrier's van." The Baron left a fortnne of twentytwo million pounds sterling, The following is given in a Victorian paper as a cure for diarrhcea:—A good handful of leaves were put into a two quart billy, then nearly filled with water and boiled, I drank about a pint off at once as soon as it was ready, and had no need for any more, As it is. not very' palatable, Spanish liquorice plight be added,