TE AROHA. [FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.] Te Aroha, Wednesday.

Waikato Times, Volume XXII, Issue 1839, 19 April 1884, Page 2

TE AROHA. [FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.] Te Aroha, Wednesday.

The quietness of Good Friday was here deepened into pfloom by the occurrence of a melancholy ;md fatal accident about 12 miles clown the river, whereby a lad of 10 or 17 named Onyon, son of Mr K. Onyon, steamboat agent, of this place and formerly of Thames, lost his life. He was steering a timbei laden baige which was being towed up stream by the steam launch Huia, and on coming to a sharp bend m the river when it was necessary to bring the vessel round the tiller broke and the unfortunate youth was piecipitated into the water. He was able to swim and kept himself afloat for a time, but being heavily clothed and theie being a stiong eddy at the spot, he sank before <i rescue could be effected. .Search was at once made for the body and was continued, though unavailingly, on Saturday. On Sunday morning a strong party went down from here provided with giappling irons, and before an hour had elapsed they succeeded in bringing up the body not more than a score or two of yards from the spot wheie thn accident occurred. At the inquest held on Monday the vcidict was in accoidance with the cucu instances, vu., accidental death by drowning, but a rider was attached suggesting the advisability of measures being taken to guaid against any similar occmivnce. When it is considered that on boaid these tiu'ber baiges theuMs no protection whatever for the steersman, who stands on a small space not much more thn a 3 feet acioss, without i ail or anything else to prevent him fiom falling oveiboud, the wonder ;s; s that no such accident happened before, and the need for the rider will icadily be understood. Easter Monday, which in most places is dedicated to sports and out-door pastimes, slipppd away heie as quickly as an ordinary Sunday. Even our cricketers seemed to havo lost all their wonted enemy. The only visible attempt at open air amusement was a game of lawn tennis, in which two ladies were to be seen languidly doing battle with a solitary individual of the opposite «ex. The eclipse of the moon on the 10th inst., came off here punctually, to the appointed tune, and all the conditions sketched out in the programme were faithfully fulfilled, a& no doubt they were elsewhere. Fortunately the night was fine, and the sky beautifully clear, consequently the obscuration in all its phases was distinctly visible in the neighbourhood. The most noteworthy e\ent, connected with mining this wpek, has been the trial start of the new tai lings plant, in connection with Messrs Fnth and Clark'd battery at Waiorongoimu. The plant will when completed consist of (54 berdan*, only 34 of which ha\e as yet been erected. The other 30 will soon be placed in position, and when the full number are going there will be gunding power sufficient to tieat nearly all the tailings as they flow from the battery. The whole of the arrangements are very complete, and everything has been done to make the plant as effective as possible foi the work which it has to purfoim. As soon as it is fairly started the yield of gold fiom the different mines ciushiug at the battery, will be largely augmented, for it has been proved by repeated trials of the tailings, that in proportion to the richness of the quartz, they contain a much larger percentage of gold than is usual on other fields when it is of a coarser nature than on this. The returns of amalgan for the two principal mines crushing ah the battery last week were as follows :—: — 07. dwts Colonist, 20 head 51 days, ... 202 1 New Find, 15 head 6 day:., ... 205 15 Total ... 407 16 The Werahiko Company have finished thoir crushing of 140 tons for the rather poor eturn of 58 ounces retorted gold. The mine will produce something much better before it can be again classed as a payable one. News has been brought into town this evening of the discovery of another payable leader in the Phoenix claim but nothing reliable is yet known about it. Th3reis no sensational find to report in any of the other claims and on the whole mining on the hill may be said to be at present in rather a quiescent t>tate.