ARROW RIVER

Tuapeka Times, Volume 22, Issue 277, 22 May 1873, Page 6

ARROW RIVER

(From oar own- Correspond&iit.} After all, men are but children of a larger growth. Only fancy our leading miners, who seem to have got tired of Miners' Association business, as soon as taey attained by its means the highest kcrnr possib'e, aye now casting ab-uit for &ju.feher toy, over which to, blow off their %upersnou& gas. It is true that we have &card of a Miners' Institute for the Waka^p. district, bat we were not prepared for such a gigantic scheme aa seems, provided for uy. I have learned upon ihe beat authority that an acre of land, for &h,e site of th,e institute, has been applied for, granted, and actually surveyed, in iki -vicinity of; the Camp reserve. I hope that botanical and zoological gardens will be.s,tarted, in conjunction with it. The sgtected site offers peculiar faciliiiea for t&e latter, as there is a capacious dam in qlosh proximity to it, which would serve 3.clnura.bly for an aquarium. It is snffiQJ.eotly large for se-veral species of whales, sharks, and othsi; highly diverting lish, and when the school reserve is properly £enc§d, some crocodilos may be added. Lor' ! wouldn't the Qneenstownitea be jealous if this were .icoomplished. It Tjfo,u)d bea,fc t'aeir lake and scenery holiow. Well, well, here, have I been talking on Utopian subjects, until I h^vij, got to, c/ocodile and Q^e^nstovynites ; but "t^e sublime and the riiii^ulous are ofteui so up-arly allied that it is difficult to class t^etu aep&rately-.' 1 ' 1$ explanatijtyn, of the above heterogeiilQ^a mess, 1 iroiftt st.-ite that I have just $$ad the Qu^Piietown correspondent's. j^ttes *o th,e *' Bruce Herald," and that psl^aa, «fc re^ijajMe, 'fa %&

result. I hqld that newspaper readers are by this time sufficiently informed of the odious, nature of the proposed bridge ; so that I may let that matter drop, and turn to the other statements made by the same writer mentioned, which are equally erroneous as those he makes about the bridge at lfawarau Falls. He says : — ' ' In spite of the evident advantage to tho town, an indignation meeting was held at an obscure outlying village called Arrowtown, calling on our Member to resign, ITe, of course, treated the matter with contempt." The fact is as follows : — Mr. Hallenstein, the member referred to, met his Arrow constituents prior to his leaving for Dunediu to attend the sitting of the Council. Mr. H. was closely questioned on the matter of the bridge, and although his answers proved altogether unsatisfactory, and the meeting expressed their disapproval of the manner in which Mr. H. treated the matter, when, in spite of all this, he told the meeting that even if every man iv the district was against the erection of the bridge and formation of the road, he would leave no stone unturned until he hud succeeded — then, and nut until then, a vote of want of confidence was proposed and carried unanimously. Besides, Mr. H. has provoked several letters, which proved that many of vhe statements he made on his recent tour thvouirh the district wei'e unfounded, and which letters Mr. H, has allowed to stand nncoutr&dicted \ip to. tlie present time. Wo can, for these reasons, quietly allow the Queenstown correspondent to call Mr. 11. our representative. We hoar a great dual of the corruption of our Governments — both provincial as well as general, and Mr. ll. 's conduct throws a light upon the subject, which shows the cause of the evil clearly. Mr. H. has attached himself to a powerful political party, and tries to override all attacks by its weight ; hence his defiant declaration at the meeting referred to. When such influence is wielded by such parties, the Government have only two ways to choose, either to give way to it, or fall as martyrs. Some time ;u?o, the miners at Cardrona petitioned His Honor the Superintendent, praying that a part of an agricultural lease there might ho cancelled. The prayer w;ia granted, and arbitrators appointed to estimate the value of the ground applied for by the miners, according to OoUltields Act, 18GG, part 11., I clauses IS and 19. The. result was aa i follows : —Destruction of old feuco, £40 ; erecting new fence, £25 4s ; rental of ten acre I*,1 *, £21 ; loss sustained by cancellation, £258 ; destruction of willow plants, £1 ; expenses of arbitration, £29 4s ; total, £1574 Ss, which amount the arbitrators rocommended the Government to pay, in complianco with part 11. clause 17, of the Goldfields Act, 18GG. The following is the reply of the Government : — " In the case of arbitration, the Government have decided on the matter ; it must be an arrangement between the miners and Mr. Cotton (the lessee). It was never, intended by the regulations, that the Government should pay the award in su.ch cases." This case involves so ma,njquestions of the greatest importance to t^e miners of the colony, that it will be advisable to revert to it again upon tyic earliest opportunity.