PAEROA.

Te Aroha News, Volume I, Issue 28, 15 December 1883, Page 2

PAEROA.

(from our own correspondent.) .-• Dkspitb the continuous rain the crops u this district are looking wel!, espechll;! the .meadows, which promise a heavj yield, and, generally spenkinsr, the farmer; have reason to be well satisfied with th< present show—oats and potatoes bolt look well ; cittle and sheep are looking well, and have abundance of feed ; «heep shearing has been much retarded owin^ to the inclempncy of the weather ; buttei is very plentiful, and of good quality chee^ 1 , however, is not produced in thi district ; bacon-curing appears to b entirely overlooked, although it ought to be a source of. much profit if proper h gone into. The supplies up to theprsnen are brought from .Canterbury principally Much" less than the usual quantity oi maize and potatoes have been planted thii season by the natives. One reason foi this i 3 tho comparative failure of the potatoe crop last .year, occasioning tfi< consumption of what was intended foi " seed," and from their improvident mod< of living they had no money to buy f roir the storekeepers. Of the roads (or, to be more correct the surveyed tracks so called) perhapi 'the least said the better. They an simply impassable for wheiled traffic ii many places ; the wonder " is not that thi coaches have discontinued running ove the whole line from' Aroha to T ameF but rather that they ever started at al whilst the roads are in Ruch a state However, there is an old saying tha "the darkest hour is just before thi dawn," and I am glad to be able to saj that the Thames County Council at las* appear to be inclined to take some steps t< improve the present disgraceful state o affairs. Contracts have been let fo metalling the road from Komata t( Paeroa, and on to Mackytown, and tender, are about to be called for the formation drainage and metalling of the road to T< Aroha from Paeroa to Kotokohu. 1 number of the small farms are looking very prosperous; amongst others I ma; mention on the Te Aroha side of th' township Messrs W. Nicholls, N. Dickey A. Thorp, John Sheehan, John Quinn an< R. Brown. .Mr Sheehan is evidently wel satisfied with the prospects .of bee-farm ing, and is rapidly increasing the numbe of hives, which, from all appearance, cai already be numbered by scores. W< wish him every success, and it would b much to the. advantage of manj T -more o oar settlers and to the colony generally were his good example more followed Inspecting Mr Quinn, even the mos casual observer cannjt frail to notice th' improved appearance of his farm, notice ably the exceedingly neat cottage latel; erected, which is altogether too good fo' a bachelor, and we think it is not im probable that Mr Quinn at an early dat will enter into partnership with sour* on from out of the many desirable yonnj ladies of the district. Mr Brown' orchard promises to be a groat success. Respecting mininjr, there is little o interest to report. The Hauraki batter has been stopped for some time pasowing to an accident to flumin<r, whirl conveys the water to the turbine ; th repairs, however, will now speedily b completed, and wor.k resumed. ' Thur Jire not so many men at work in th Karangahake mines as there should be considering the good, prospects obt lined Mr W. A. Hunt' (of Shotover celebrity ' with two men is engaged prospecting n Kotokohu, and expresses himself aa wel pleased with the indications of gold oh tamed, and complains at the small amonn of prospecting tlone in the claims alreadi taken up. ' Were the fMining Inspector U visit the distriothe might find something to engage his attention.