THAMES COROMANDEL ROAD.

Thames Advertiser, Volume XXIX, Issue 9295, 10 March 1899, Page 2

THAMES COROMANDEL ROAD.

In recent issues we referred to the importance of there being communioa-. tion by road between the Thames and Ooromandel, while as the result of the matter, having been brought under the notice of the Borough Council by the Mayor, the Ooromandel County ! Council promptly moved in the direction of oßtnining Government aid, and the Minister of Mines has asked that the local bodies interested should forward an estimate of the cost of constructing the proposed coa*h road It is gratifying to notice the zeal with whioh the proposal is being taken up at Ooromandel. Our contemporary the News, which always seems fully alive to the importance of anything affecting the welfare of these two goldfields centres, accords the scheme its warmest support, and strongly impresses its necessity upon the Ooromandel County Council. In commenting upon the question, the News says: — "The Ooromandel Council, it will be remembered, re* commended that the Government be asked for £2000 for the road. The Thames Borough Oouncil is of opinion that this sum is insufficient. With regard to the Ministers' suggestion that other works should be sacrificed for this one, we doubt the wisdom of it. The sums appropriated for roads in the Ooromandel County during the past few years, although reasonable when compared with the grants /of other goldfields Counties, still by no, means met the real needs.of the place. We have now awaiting the notice of Government works, the accomplishment of which is badly wanted, but which in successive years have of necessity given way , to others of greater agency. The Thames road is me of these, only in this case the principal ..obstacle has been the magnitude of the cost, which if in curred in' one year would throw back for that space roads, etc,, whose completion is a matter of immediate necessity. We think the importance ot the Thames-Ooromandel roadun dertaking should justify the Government in making a special grant -a grant which would in no wise affect the ordinary goldfields County apprqpriations. The road is not so much of local as of colonial importance The region it will traverse is known to be auriferous, and little prospected, and with increased traffic facilities there maybe given to the colony anew goldfield, It was absurd that during the thirty odd years the Ooromandel and Thames goldfields have been in existence, the two ceia'res have not been connected .by a serviceable thoroughfare, and that the Government shou'd now wish to deprive both places of their annual grants in order to complete the road. Another phase of the question is that the road will absorb a large proportion of the unemployed on both fields. In the South the Government has expended large sums of public money in thus giving work to the workless, and have, by means of the co-operative system, minimised fi crying evil, On the goldfinlds, ilie benffit would be more lasting. In agricultural districts the advantages of co-operative employmenfc ceased when the work gave out; but on the goldfields, the moneys so earned will euable the men to engago in prDspecting, wmch may lead to the discovery of reefs that will furnish further emplo\ mint to others. The expenditure of £'2000 or £3000 on the road would therefore be a good investment for the colony, and would, moreover, partly relieve the Treasury of the present drain for prospecting aid, We tiust that the -Mines De. partment will take this view of the matter when the next grants are allocated."

At themeeting of the Bomugh Council lasf. night a letter was r ceive'l fora Mi Prater (agent for the exeoutors of the late L)r Killgour) offering fir sale 29 allotments comprising a total of 3|jth acres-situ ited be ween Kolleston and Mackny streets for £1.600, for the purpose of a reoreation 1 ground. Altec considerable discussion a motion proposed by the Mayor and seconded ] by Or Trembalh, "That a commiit>e of the whole (.onncil visit the place, and report on the matter at the next meeting of the Council," was carried, An amend* meufc by Cr in favour of endeavouiing to obtiim either the fee simple or a lease for 66 about 25 acres of the foreshore, bet wen the floods ' Wharf and Moanataiari mulloik tip—from J the Harbor Board, lapsed, as there was no. f seoo- der, " The Coromandel Foresters intend ru»n ng their annual t xourfiou to the Thames on * Baxter Monday, April 3rd. * Serge&nt Bienuan, who has been to Paeroa on Departmental business, returned t ,o the Thames by train last ovgning. ft

The adjourned applications under the Old Age Penaiona Act are to be heard at Coromandel to-day. A well-known chiranter named Mary j Stewart,.and also known by the sobriqu t of '■ Daisy," was arrested lust night and pl'ire- 1 *n the lock-up. She wil be charged ivt ihe Court fr-day.with vagrancy. j Mr S Nelson, a tail rll P erot, was. brought down ft oui tba' tuwnsh'p on . Wed'esday night and placed in the Thames Hospital. He is suffeiing from a virn ent fever, suppcsed to be typhoid. j In many instances the turnip crops iu the Waikato have suffered severely on account of the lengthy cpell of dry weather, j and it is said that a day or two's steady rain would gladden the heart of the farmer considerably, We would remind those interested in the 63tablishir.ent of a creamery at Matatoke of the public meeting to b« hold at Puriri this evening, when an address will be given > by Mr Spragg, manager of the Auckla id Dairy Association. j Thn Hauraki Rowing Club have accepted ihe bpecial challenge to row a Ngaruawahia t''am at the Ngunuwahia regatta on the 17 th inst., and will be represented bytho following •—Newdick, Otter, Kolton, Blaok, ; Gordon (cox.); emergency, Twohill, | Inspeotor Tunbridge, Commissioner of j Police, paid an official visit to Cambridge | on Tuesday, accompanied by Inspeotor; Cullen, Amongst other matters, they i selected the site for the new police station and constable's residence. For the convenience of Thamesites wish" ing to attend the Hamilton races to-rooirow the railway authorities have made special traiu arrangements. A train will leave here at 7.55 a.m arriving at Kirikiriroa at 115 o'clock, returning to the Thames at 9.45 p,m. A young; man employed in one of the WeHlind fawmills had a remarkable escape from losing a limb the other day. He tripped and fell in proximity to a rapidly revolving circular saw, and in a 'flash realised that one of his bootß had been tipped away. Another sixteenth of an inch and a leg would hare gone with it' At the Pa?roa Police Court yesterday a man named B Brown was oharged with the theft of clothes from a miner's camp at Waihi, and was sentenced to a moath's imprisonment in fehortland Gaol. The prisoner was brought down to the Thames by train last evening e understand that there is a oa?e of horje stea ing pending against the accused, which he will be charged with on the expiration of die present term. / The Coromandel Steward of the Miners' Union has received a wire from Ee fton, stating that the following miners have left the ' lobe mine, and that others are following, viz : Boat;, Burgess, Martin, Kose, Mann. Maxwoll, and Benment, It ia therefore quite evident that the conditions under which the men work are not particularly favourable. Several of these men recently left Coromandel and Tham«s for the vVeab Coast. A Cincinnati paper has collected data as to tain robberies, and announces that during the past nine yearn the e have been 246 train robberies iu the United Sates aud 86 people' killed therein; besides 77 injured by sli"oting. Immense amounts of money have a'so been involved, and it is su/gested tW the crime of robbing trails should be brought under federal jurisdiction and. made punishable with instant death, as iu Ilex co, whe'e there has not been even an attempted train robbery during the past ye-r, while the United >"tateß has a reco'd of 28 such crimes. / The settlers on tho Wharef.oa sett'ement (Cryer's Landing) are petitioning Government for a railway station at the head of the Wharepoa ro:id- This would be a gieat boon to the settlers, as ihe railroad is only about a mile and a half away.. The present station at Omahu is surrounded by private lmd, and in order to get to it pas-angers have either to walk one and a half miles along the line from the proposed station site' or else walk around the road about four miles, the latter buing the only way in which goods can be got to or from the sticLoa. As the district is steadily, advancing) it is expected the request mil be acceded to We understand that changes have taken plao ' in ihe Thames branch of the Bank of New Zealand. Mr C. R. Fenton is to be transferred to New Plymouth, where he will disohtrge the duties of aocouatant, while Mr Lookhart (toller), ard Mr Whitak-r (assayer) have received instructions to report themselves at Auckland, their precise destination not yet having been deoided upon. Mr Bush, of the Paeroa branch, will take up the position of accountant and assayer at the Thames, Onr Paer >a correspondent te'egraphs " Mr Bu-h. accountant at the Bank cf New Zealand, has received notice of his transfer to the lb inea branch. Mr Bush has mado a great number of friends during his Beven years' sojourn amongst us, and his departure will be a distinct loss to Paeroa and a dfoided gain to the Thames. He will be espeoia'iy missed bythemombera of the Masonio body and the Fire Brigade " People " out back " relate that weasel 8 and fer.ets now simply infest the bush in tho Coromandel County- Atany time travelling bt-tween Coromandel and' Kuaotunu these vermin may be seen occasionally in the thict undergrowth.; The development' of the pest in 1 his direction is a matter seriously to be deplored. The rodents seem to easily adapt themselves to the o imatia con itions of this coleny, which, as in the ca eot the rabbit, encounne3 them to increase and multiply. While ferrets and weasels confine their operations to settled portions of the oountry, the evil couldj be ooped with; but now that they have (says the New*) kindly to the bush-well tli"ir existence will be a common menace to settlers, for as, they increase, they must; oome down in hordes for food, when supplies give out in the forest. Some steps should be taken to meet this new phase; but'it is extremely desirable that the " natural enemy" of th« weasel, the stoat, and the ferret should not he introduced, as it will in all probability turn out a still greater pest,