TE AROHA.

Waikato Times, Volume XXII, Issue 1817, 28 February 1884, Page 3

TE A ROHA.

Tin: usual poiiod of stagnation in business, aftoi the Clnistinas hohdajs, nioie especially felt in mining di-tiicts, has not passed us by on this occasion, for since the beginning of the yeai everything h.is been e\ccedingly quiet. The depression was, unfoitunately, intensified by the strike of the inmeis, which, foi a time, caused a suspension of all work on the lull, and a consequent dullness in every line of business.. The cloud, howevei, that lias for a long while hung over the field is gradually being dispelled. The strike may now be said to have collapsed. Men aie fain to accept the reduced rate of wages (8s per day), and work in all the principal claims is going on as before. As the year ad\ance.s, so aie our piospects giadually getting brighter. Mining, winch is our staple industiy, is beginning to assume a healthier aspect, and faith in the permanence of the field is every day becoming stiongev as claims like the New Find and Colonist continue to show that there is no falling off, cil.hei in the size 01 quality of the icefs, so far a& they ha\e been followed downwaid 5 -. The shoit spoil of fine -\\eathei which tci initiated on Thuisday last had \eiy m.iteiially t educed the watei supply at the Batteiy CoV. works, so much so as to necessitate the hanging up of ]0 01 15 head of stampeib. The copious and timely lainfall lias, howe\ei, again filled the cicely, and it is not likely that any fmthei inconvenience will be OA'peiienced this suininei. The partial stoppage has doubtlesb dhected the attention of the astute and entei prising owneis to the necessity of making provision for a dry season such as, for instance, the summer of 1883, when in .ill probability half the batteiy would ha\e been idle for month.-. A stiff gale from the S.E. (almost a certain piecuisoi of lain) usheied in the bad weathei of Thuisday, but it was not very destiuctive in its effects, and fiuther than capsizing and In caking up the pile-engine at the new l ail way budge, and pat tidily unloofmg the old battei v m the township, no serious damage was done. The election of the Licensing Committee for this district took place on Saturday, and lcsulted in theietiun of Mes^i s l\iutt, Lipsey, La\eiy, Adams and O'Hallotan. None of those gentl'smo.i belong to the stiict teinpeicince school, but fiom tliesatisfactoty niaimei in which thiee of then numbei poifoi mod their duties on the old committee, and fiom the modeiate \ lews of the othei two, it may be expected that the act will be faiily woiked. Tlioio was no excitement such as jii e\ ailed in Auckland. The oigam-atiou <>f the blue nbbon and kindled societies heie i- not >et sufficiently ad\anced to enable them to take a piomiuent patt m elections, but a steady inciease is going on in then lanks, and it may be safely asset ted that m a very .shoit time their nmnbeit. will give them here, as elsewheie, a preponderating influence in the tegiilation of the liquoi tiaffic. The half fnendly and half-jeolous rivalry that exists between out two townships has for sometime been kept a baize by a seiies of wicket matches, in which the palm of victoiy was finally boine off, after a se\eie •■■ti uggle, by the Waioiongomai playois, as.sisted by the men of the mountain. Last Satmdav the bachelois pitted themselves against the benedict-, and got a sound di übbing foi their audacity. Tired of beat insf each othci, our wieldeis of the willow will have to look fmthei a held foi foemen woithy of then steel, and it is piobable we ma\ shoitly hear of a fiiendly challenge fiom the men of "Waihou to those of Waikato. The batteiy lutuins foi I ist week aie as follow, and --how a maikedimpiovenient in the Colonist :—: — Kew Find 3380/s. amalgam, haul squeezed. Colonist, 3770/s. „ „ „ Pieiniei, 23ozs. lOdwts. „ „ Total 73S 10 The falling off in the yield fiom the New Find may be legaided as only tempoiaiy. — (Own Conespondent.)