UPPER THAMES ADVOCATE.

Te Aroha News, Volume I, Issue 25, 24 November 1883, Page 2

UPPER THAMES ADVOCATE.

'This above all — to thine own-self bo true And it must follow us the night the day, Thou canst not then be false to any man.' — Shakespeare.

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER. 24, 1883.

have, to-day, to make a most im »ortant announcement, as affecting thi journal, its rodders, and, we tiust alsr "lie district in which it is published. )n tnrnintr to the imprint of the p:e<*ont -ue, it will be observed that the proletary has changed. This fact would. :rhaj>s, be of so little public importance - hardly to justify the opening word? .f the present article if the change did •<>t imply some new departure in the uunagement of the paper. There aie >vo circumstances, however, which give he intended alteration in the control ■f the Jocal journal a wide significance, in the first issue of the Te Aftom \v.\vs it was announced that the aim "f the conductors would be to keep pace •ith the progress of the district, and make the paper a power in advancing i's interest*. It is by virtue of that ■romise that the former conductors took lie steps which have culminated in the •ifusjon of new enterprise into the •lanagement. It has been felt that Te Vroha has emerged from infancy into a rigorous youth ; that it cannot take econd rank to any country district in 'ie Province of Auckland. This may x'm a bold statement, but let those rho are disposed to challenge it first '.xutnine the country. The richly auriferous region which has now been proved by the crucial test of the battery, is only one feature in a territory which, without mining, would stand ilmost unrivalled. Nowhere in Auckland does the plough tin verso such vast md fer f ile areas as those which gladden the summer landscape view from Te -Vroha mountain. With golden trea•ires beneath our feet we look over the ♦Vaitoa, smiling under the labours of ,he husbandman, towards Morrinsville, md the Land Association's magnificent •state. On turning our eyes southvard, far as the eye can reach stretch ,he fertile lands of the Waihon Valley, .vJiilo in the foreground, standing on >leasint sunlit slopes, are the homes of the Lincolnshire special settlers, multi plying in number, and in the extent of their cultivations. Where is there a land of greater promise ? Nothing is wanting to complete its attractions but better means of communication with the outer world, and another year should .see the iron horse snorting into oui township, and the grain and cattle laden .trucks wending their way to tht metropolitan market. Rarely ha 1 lature strewn the face of a country so liberally— a rich goldfield forming the centre to avast agricultural area, where the miner can locate his family and establish his homestead without forsaking iiis more lucrative and exciting pursuits. The best investment for the -product? of the Te Aroha goldfield is found in i/he lands around it ; and while, in the >rdSnary way 6f trade, the faim produce •>f the settler will be exchanged directly ; or the precious metal of the miner, tin itter will, in turn, become the land .>\vner and cultivator of the soil., t This is no Utopian dream, but v obcr , picture from life, hvhich ha. c •nuravent itself on the minds of- mci. who have watched the development oi r.he country. J*o vivid a, reality is it. chat they have felt that ttie Te'Aroh/ Xews, as reorienting to* the' 6uVei world 1 the life of .the people, must take i decisive step iiKelad, and th t e advance movement we have* much pleasure in

Umounoing id our, mutc'rav wKia,, Everything that jounmlisdc'cmerprir md large \rosrurces, combined with » broad confidence in the future of tin country, can do, will bo d< no for tli mprdvemont of the journal* -A • m mediate enlaig^mont lias boon I. *olved upon, and" our readois may I°° tor double valuo for the wuno mom, noxUvcek. - The to'loginpbie mul nev lepartments v ill also be improve This will be followed, as the develop ment of the district warrants; -wir more frequent issues of the papei. )f course new capers -are not 'hi ••om motives of pmo philanthropy » : ihe now proprietary of the New, have not one Mxpcnco-woi th of in torost in .any single mine nor r an acre of'l^id within the .district Its guiding mo^to will bo to give_ far play to ulf; and to make the paper itse!; the Bonanza which shall bo fertilized hy the wealth arising out of tho growing pi'osi)enty, and the diflusion of uomfor among the general population. Kow, ii the miners of To Arohaand ihofarmeiv nf surrounding districts want such i paper, they nmat sujiport it. We hholyc v it to be a fundamental principle o. newspaper management that no journal can pay without receiving the counton ance and willing hell) of the bulic of tht people. Without that suppoit it it worthless as a means of influencing tin public mind;- worthless as an advertip ing medium, and generally unpiofitablc The Tis Aroha News makes no pro tense to being run as a hobby— -i will be conducted in the hope of om day becoming a lucrative commercia venture — perhaps not immediaicly, \a\ as the population which must tiow ij here gathers strength and volume Now. thi'co things arc indispensable t newspaper success : first, choose a goo Held ; second, give » good article ; aiu. third, work tho ])aiK;r hone>My. Th first, most of those to whom we look fu wi]} concodo is nhouly oiiks; th •cond and thiid \so loa\o with con .once for the future ard tho unbia^o. judgment of our re.idoi-.s to dott i nine.

We have to draw the attention of shareholders in nnworked claims to the intimation given by the Warden that in future he will insist on ground being worked in accordance with goldfield regulations, ann that unless shareholders either work (or take the necessary steps to protect) 'their ground, it will be liable to forfeiture. Until recently, there was some excuse for th* 1 non-working of ground, and 'miners were entitled to extended protection, pending the completion of such necessary auxiliaries to quartz-mining as the tramway, water-races and battery, then in course of construction. These costly works sufficiently justified the Warden exercising the utmost forbearance and in permitting the temporal y cessation of actual mining operations. But the case is now different, as every week brings an accession to our mining population. Ground in a fancy position is eagerly sought after by parties desirous of working the same. Well-defined lines of reef have been developed, and payable runs of gold opened up, holdingout the highest attractions to prospectors and practical miners. .No doubt remains as to the payable character of these lodes ; the battery Las thoroughly satisfied the public on that point, as large quantities of general stuff have been sent to .the mill by five companies, out of which four have proved more than payable, a result unprecedented in the annals of quartz mining. The usual bitter experience is that four-fifths turn out failures, and within a short period of many of their first cmshings, the only thing left to mark the spot where operations were so brisk, is sorifo melan-choly-looking battery, standing a silent monument over buried sovereigns and graves of departed hopes. What ( a brilliant contrast is presented by this field when trial crushings are followed by the immediate erection of a second battery, and a third will probably be started with the new year, the, only cause of delay being the want of more definite information as to the extent of the run of gold in those claims, for which the plant is more especially being erected. To induce capitalists to put their money into machinery,, miners must show they have stone rich enough to warrant the erection of fresh batteries, and ag on the successful development of new areas of ground ulepends the introduction of further crushing plant, the Warden is only acting in the interest of the field in insisting that all claims and licensed holdings must be worked.