TE AROHA.

Waikato Times, Volume XVI, Issue 1366, 2 April 1881, Page 2

TE AROHA.

(from our own correspondent.) A little more activity seems to have been, imparted to the tone of thia place by the full of the thermometer of ten or fifteen degrees that has occurred the last two days, though the great w<mt of both agriculturists and miners seems to be rain. The flat gr<ii3 land-* in the country around here, that a few weeks ago were literally nearly knee Jeep in clover, are dry and barren, and the fat cattle show more of the effects of the drought, while the dust is almost unbearable everywhere. The names ot some of the owners of so called abandoned claims placarded on the wall of the Warden's office have excited tome remarks upon the fairness of granting protection to some from the usual goldminer's law, that if a grant is not worked it shall be forfeited. Speculators can take advantage of this protection obtainable by payment of a certain sum, and without any expenditure of labor or capital can merely hold their claim till it is made valuable by the work of some poorer neighbor, who, after working for months and turning out perhaps a hundred tons of material finds that he cannot wait any longer for the completion of tho battery, but must go to work else* where to obtain a further supply of cash, or something for a living, and who may thus forfeit his claim. The moment the battery goes to work the hundred tons of material from the forfeited claim may turn out to bo of value, and the protected claim, that has doae no work, immediately reaps the benefit by a rise in the price of their shares while the poor fellow who has suffered all tho heat and burden of the day, has to look out for another corner in which to earn his crust, or work for somebody else's benefit all over again. There is a little complaining naturally r to be heard ou the subject, and it is said by some that the sooner the protective system is done away with the better for the field. A most promising looking claim if protected from the necessity of being worked, turns out nothing and does nothing for the advancement of the field, but if compelled to develope its' resources, might be made of use to the community generally, as well as to its Owners. The Battery it is said, will commence operations very shortly now, and a true verdict may then be parsed upon the value of the T© Aroha goldfield, but comparatively a poor supply of quarts* is waiting to be crushed, and this it is said is one of the effects of the protective system. It was, reported yesterday that a prospecting party made a remarkably valuable discovery fiomewhere in the neighborhood of the Waiongomai creek and not far from the Shotover claim that has excited considerable remark before by the good qualities of the quartz found upon it. It is said that this new find is to eclipse all. We shall see, and I may be able to report some interesting facts in my next. It is rumoured that the School reserves ■ here are to be shortly offered for lease at a rent of 7£ per cent, upon the valuation price. The value at the present time may be from £3 to £5 per acre, which will mean 4s 6d to 7« 6d per acre rent, a not exorbitant price for good land, though part of these reserves is said to be of very poor quality. The Waihou, ' in spite of the jaoa&uiued dry weather, shows no siga*^«JE japy diminution of its "supply of mmf^l&d a steamer still finds its way up here from the Thames. A fine little new boat that wiil carry a hundred tons of cargo has been built by Messrs Price Brothers, and will be ready to pay us a visit next week. The general feeling of all located here, whether of diggers or storekeepers,; is certainly more nopeful for the best results that have been .anticipated than it has been for weeks ; and as soon as the much' talked-of battery of the Quartz Crushing Company commencesitsoperations, we shall' s«i everything, advi^co at once,— April Ist,- ", ' *' <l ' '" • • ~' l 5 '