TE AROHA.

Waikato Times, Volume XXIII, Issue 1895, 28 August 1884, Page 2

TE AROHA.

[from our own correspondent.] Te Aroha, Monday. There being nothing at present to cause much excitement in matters pertaining to the mines, public interest has for some days pnst been centred in the election of a member to fill the place in the Piako. County Council vacated by Mr H. E. Wlntaker, At the poll, which took place to-day, Mr E. K. Cooper was returned by a majority of 23, but the validity of the election is disputed by the supporters of Mr D. Murphy, who wis second on the list, and it is probable an effort will be made by them to unseat the successful candidate on the grounds that a number of persons who were quali fied to vote by virtue of their miners' rights were not permitted to do so. The returning officer held that only those whose names were on the rolls made up to the 30th of June last could exercise the privilege, and whatever the legal aspect of the question may be theic can be no doubt that he was morally right, ' for if the mci c possession of one of these documents entitled a man to vote a large amount oi corruption would speedily be developed. Many persons who sought to vote to-day took out their miners' rights only on Saturday last, and it may he assumed that they obtained them solely for election purposes. Now, if such a qualification were to be considered good, the carrying of an election would quickly resolve itself into a matter of £ s. d., and any candidate who could afford to spend money enough in thus enabling his friends to qualify themselves might make sure of being returned. If the objection that lias been lodged by Mr Murphj' is based upon the refusal of the returning officer to recognise this qualification, then it is to be hoped, for the sake of political motality, that it will be a fruitless one. It is hardly the place in a letter such as this to ciiticise the accuracy of the statement which Mr J. C. Fnth is reported in The Waikato Times of Tuesday last to have made at a recent meeting of the Piako County Council, to the effect that by the Aroha goldfield the council was circulating about £3500 a month in the county, and that this was taken directly out of the ground. The statement has given rise to much comment here, but putting the figuies aside, it is considered that Mr Firth is scarcely justified in claiming that to the council alone is due the credit of circulating this large sum. No one denies that that body is deserving of the highest praise for its efforts in constructing tramways and roads to develop the goldfield, but the expenditure on these works does not by any means represent the amount of capital that has been invested, and it is hardly fair that those companies and individuals who have aided so largely in furthering the progress of the field should thus be quietly ignored. In the opening up of the mines, perhaps, a much larger sum has been spent than that laid out by the council, and it is somewhat strange that Mr Firth, to whom it must be well known, should have flailed to acknowledge the fact. It was expected that the damage done on the tramway would have been repaired by this time, but the clearing away of one of the landslips has proved a heavier undertaking than was calculated upon, and it will take a day or two longer to get the line cleared and fit for traffic. This long stoppage will seriously affect the yield of gold for the current month, as the stampers have now been hung up for a week, owing to the impossibility of getting quartz down from any of the mines. Although little is heard about the new battery talked of some weeks ago, work : in connection with it is going steadily on. The widening of the road leading to the site is being proceeded with as rapidly as the weather weather will allow, and as soon as it is completed the machinery will be conveyed to the ground. A third battery is likely soon to be erected on the field, the Inverness Co. having decided to procure crushing machinery of their own, and they are now negotiating for the purchase of the required plant. The football match between the Aroha and Cambridge players comes off here on Saturday next, and is expected to be the toughest game our men have been engaged in this season. The local team comprises Verity (captain), Parker, Whitehouse, Trude, Hinton, McFarlane, Beasdale, Stewart, O'Shea, Hawkins, Purdy, O'Donoghue, Gordon, Lynch and Sheehan. On Friday night and Saturday morning last the weather here was bitterly cold, and snow fell on the mountain to a depth of some inches. Since then it has been fine, and the temperature comparatively mild.