OHINEMURI NEWS.

Waikato Times, Volume XXVIII, Issue 2306, 21 April 1887, Page 2

OHINEMURI NEWS.

[FROM OUII OWN COnRESPON DENT. 1 Pakuoa, Tuesday. The Thames Harbour Board having expressed a desire to the Hon. Minister of Mines on his late visit that they should have the control of the Ohineinuri, Piako and Waihou rivers, the ire of Ohinemuri ratepayers has been raised, and forthwith a mass meeting was convened by one of our leading lights, in order to spoil thq little game. The meeting- took place on Saturday evening last at Paeroa, and Mr Robt. A. Wight occupied the chair. It was unanimously agreed that the County. Council were not competent to attend to the matter, and therefore the existing Vigilance Committee, together with the convener of the meeting, were authorised to take the necessary steps. This means that they are to dog the heels of the councillors and coerce them into getting the Governor's consent to the constitution of a River Conservency Board. The matter is a very serious one to residents on or near the rivers mentioned, as it is on the cards that if the Harbour' Board get the desired act rushed through the House, that tliey may borrow under the Government Loans Act a large sum of money on the security of leviable rates oh property as far up the river.* as Shaftesbury, Matamata, Waitoa, &c. The irrepressible Vigilance Committee made a raid on Mr Collett, of Te A roll n, formation contract at Mackay town on Saturday, and allege that the work has been scamped. They ar? determined to leave no stone unturned to protect the rights of contractors who tender for work, expecting to be compelled to carry out the work tendered for.

The loan of £7300 has been lost by a very foolish blunder. A special roll was compiled by the county, which first saw the light on the morning of the polling. It was simply a copy of the property-tax assessment roll of 18 months ago, and did not include a single miner's right. If every rate payer in the district had voted, and voted for the loan, it would still have been lost, owing to the fact that half the number of ratepayers on the roll must be in favour of the proposed bonowiug, while considerably half the names on the roll were of dead people and non-rpsident owners. In Paeroa out of 01) votes 53 could not possibly poll.

The Minister of Mines was very severe (in the high prices charged by the Karangahnko Quartz Reduction Works Company for reducing ores, and declined to recognise the demand for additional' subsidies until they were considerably reduced.

The Kararigahake mines are all looking remarkably well. The Rose crushing is shaping for about Boz to the ton, and will be followed by the Diamond, whose last return was a magnificent one. The Adeline will probably have a big crush in a month or so also. The Waitekauri Valley has been constituted a separate school district by the Board of Education, to date from January Ist, 1888, _—___———