TE AROHA. [FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.] February 25.

Waikato Times, Volume XVI, Issue 1351, 26 February 1881, Page 2

TE A RO HA. [FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.] February 25.

In my List I mentioned that the whave lately occupied by the prisoner Procofty had been burnt to the ground. At first the fire was supposed to have occuviedby accident, .Since tlien, however, grave doubts have arisen as to its origin. Ihere was no fire within a very considerable distance of the whare, which lies off the road out of the track of passers-by, and the occurrence took place at a tune when most of the inhabitants were in their beds. On searching the debris next morning, the startling discovery was made of the clasps of a purse and three rings — two brass and one silver, the latter made out of a shilling. These were discovered by Mr Moore and Mr Hinton, of Hamilton, and were immediately handed over to the police. They have been identified as belonging to a female relative of the murdered man, and are stated "to have been in bis possession at the time of the murder. It will be remembered that at the time of the inquest the prisoner's mate stated that he heard Procoffy fumbling on the roof of the whare. The police searched the building very carefully, but without result. The question now arises, has the guilty party, with the view of strengthening the suspicion against the accused, placed these articles in the whare, and then set fire to it ? or were they placed there by the prisoner, and overlooked by the police in their search ? Both these theories have their adherents here, and the result of the prisoner's examination is anxiously waited for. An uneasy feeling pervades the qomm unity at the thought that the murderer may still ' be at large amongst us. On the rings being identified, Afr Hintou was immediately despatched to the Thames to give evidence at the trial, T-be erection of the long-talked-of battery has at, length been started, and there • ! is , no doubt it will be finished within the time. I hare no, fear but that th'e'first month's working, when completed, yr'ift $<fiw to yeitfore the son)©, J

whsit declining fortunes of thin field, and people frhouW, at least, suspend their i judgment till the result of the first few ! cruihings haB given it a reasonable trial. Te Avoha has had many difficulties to contend against one of the principal of whioh is the steady,opposition shewn to it by the Thames papers, who lose no opportunity of speaking contemptuously and disparagingly of ifc. I notice in the Thames Advertiser of the 23rd inst., in the report from their correspondent heie, a statement that since the murder there has been a regular exodus from the place, aud that there are not more than from 150 to 200 men. wOTien, and children left in the district. There is no truth whatever in the statement; not half-a-dozon people have left here through the murder, neither is there the slightest scare or apprehension of any danger on the part of tho people here, though reports to that effect are sedulou-sly circulated on the Thames with the view of deterring people fro?n coming. With regard to the population, I have made careful estimates from time to time, and am in a position to state that even now there are fully 400 people on the field, a good many of whom could well be spared, but we havo btill a large number of intelligent miners left who are determined to thoroughly test the field and who are evincing their confidence in its future by bringing up their families and settling dewn here. Settlement in the out district is alao rapidly increasing, and many vibitois call here who are seaiching for land in the district. Mr Baj'ldon is engaged in surveying the Thames High School endowment and cutting ifc up inco sections of from 50 to 200 acres. Most of the land is first-class, and if lea*ed on moderate terms will be readily taken up, so that this township will soon be the centre of a thriving agricultural district independant of its chances as a goldfield. — February, 25th.