OHINEMURI GOLDFIELD.

Thames Advertiser, Volume XII, Issue 3235, 4 February 1879, Page 3

OHINEMURI GOLDFIELD.

TB AROHA. DISTRICT AND HOT SPRINGS.

(FECI! A COEIIESPONDBNT.)

Ist Feb., 1879. Having had the pleasure of an excursion jby steamer as far as Te Aroha (Jot Hprings, I think I would be doing an in' justice to the Thames public did I not try to put before them, as well as I can, a few of the many pleasing features of such a trip, so that it. may be the means of inducing some of the intending settlers to have a look at this, what might be called, terra incognita. lam satisfied that it is such, or we would have had the Thames people crying out louder and more persistently than theyhavedone to "open the land." I have heard and read glowing reports about the country (even the Hon. Macandrew, after seeing a very small part of this most magnificent district in the distance, was forced to admit that "utago was riot New Zealand"), but all fall short of-vvhat the country really is. Although, Stating .'this, I do not say I can do any. .thingdike justice to the subject. My ob*. ject .in writing is what I have already stated, to induce those who have an idea of becoming settlers, to visit this district' before permanently fixing themselves anywhere else. On anniversary day, I was one of. a party made up for a day's outing as far as the riot Springs. J, C. Firth, Esq,, of Mataraata, kindly gave us the use of his steamer. At 9 a.m. we left Mr Bobson's wharf, at the juncture of the Ohinemuri and Waiho'i rivers. We had two hours' steaming, with bush on both sides of the river, which, of course, mars the view, although the scenery is delightful and ever-changing. The land is splendid, but will require capital to bring it into a paying state, and will, therefore, not be suitable for small farms. On emerging from the busli there rushes on the view one of the most glorious panoramas whioh it is possible to imagine. The eve cannot reach the limits of this, what I might call the boundless extent of the most luxuriant growth of fern, flax, native grass, &c., &c,, which shows that the land is first-class, and when in proper hands will be made to produce something more payable than its present crop? The scenery is likewise grand after getting clear of the bush. We had three hours' steaming round the base of the Aroha Mountain, which is on the left bank; it is verdure clad to the very summit, which makes a grand back ground to the picture on the right bank, where you have an endless extent of the best laud in the country, and the view is not of a monotonous character. As variety is the order of the day—a hill here, a gully there, with clumps of forest dotted all about on the plains, the view reminds one of a gentleman's park at home on a very enlarged scale. On arriving at Omahu still more wonders are in store for you. Within a few hundred yards of the river you come to innumerable boiling springs, with cold water running alongside, which can easily be turned into the hot, so that without much trouble a bather can suit himself as to | temperature. The water of these springs has been analysed, and I am informed that the curative and medicinal properties are superior to any other hot springs in the country. Had we a Graham in our midst we would soon have a grand sanatorium at Te Aroha. The railway will bring this about, which I trust to see within the next two years. Anyone seeing the country would at once say that the railway is bound to pay well, notwithstanding the prophecy of "Soapy Dan," that it " will not pay grease for the wheels." Should this turn out to be right (which cannot be), the hon. (?) gentleman will kindly supply the department with " soft soap" to keep the thing running until it will pay. The manufacture of the article costs the old chap less than making brioks; so, I think, he will be able to keep up the supply to the Thames railway " free, gratis, for nothing," seeing he has got such boundless love for the people of the Thames.