NAVIGATION OF THE MOLYNEUX RIVER.

Clutha Leader, Volume I, Issue 6, 13 August 1874, Page 5

NAVIGATION OF THE MOLYNEUX RIVER.

Having, in a previous paper sketched part*- of this . river, and represented others in favorable positions, let us see what class of trade would in all probability bo acquired thereby, and how railways would be effected by the opening of water ways. Then, first, how much available agricultural and pastoral country would "receive an outlet from this • source. . We have lands on the Wanaka Lake, Hawea, including bush and gold fields, say 1,5Q0,000 acres. On both sides of the Molyneux from Poison Flat down to Alexandra including gold fields, and taking in the Nevis, on the west bank of the Kawaru ; the Duns tan as far as Drybread, to the mouth of the Manuherikia up to, the Hough .Ridge, there are 2,500,000 acres, approximate. The lands laying below Alexandra being chiefly pastoral and freehold, extending to Port Molyneux ; and including the neighboring goldfields within, amounting to an approximate of 5,000,000 acres. Much of the interior land may be called good agricultural flats and terraces, especially on the Upper Molyneux. Of course there is a great deal of it not fit for small farming, and that would be much better in the hands of capitalists than sold on deferred payments or pastoral leases, for the best of reasons, namely, that in the first place these lands require irrigation which no deferred payment purchaser could give them, and secondly, they require such an area as would make it worth the while of an}'one to lay out. money for the purpose of reclamation. For instance, the plain above Cromwell, which is a sandy desert during nine months of jthe twelve, and so over-run with Lufman's sheep, might be made with water irrigation, the garden of central Otrgo, as the sandy soil of which it consists is capable of yielding the finest fruits, in grapes, oranges, limesj almonds, nectarines, plums of all kinds, peaches and small fruits. Here grasses of the legruniou3 tribe or clovers will grow luxuriantly as they do whenever or wherever they obtain their native soil, to wit, a loose, warm sandy soil, having a deposit of lime running through it, with plenty of water. The water in this district is loaded with this mineral, and the lime used for buildingpurposes in the vicinty is of a most superior quality. Mining as an industry will sometime or other be placed on a better footing than it is at present. When these waste lands are reclaimed, the gold fields will become of some real value ; not as thoy are at present •left to the caprice ofthe wandering and very often times useless, human lumber ofthe Colony, To look on the half j wrought aspect of some of our gold fields, is sufficient to produce some | more active gold fields legislation than has hitherto been in force in Otago. i The action of river navigation on these half-extinguished trade mediums would be to wake them into new life. The example of the proprietor of Monte Christo at Clyde, ought to be sufficient to prove the truth of these assertions, while the observations of people who have travelled in CaKtbr.ma.-and-. the j South American Republics should go farther still. As the attention of the people of this Province was called to the production of Alfalfa, Spanish class of lucerne by Mr. Duncan on his return from California, it would be as well to let them know the portions of the Province whose soil is adapted for its production. It is needless to say that Alfalfa cannot be raised in aU soils, just because it is so productive in California. As it is a legumine of the bean family, it is a lime plant, and as before stated, is fitted to come to maturity in l the sandy flats of the interior provided irrigation is adopted, after the same manner as it is in California and tho South American Republics. These plants being provided with strong roots require loose and warm soils, the same 1 shingle formation of mica schist and ; schists and, with sedimentary deposits of i lime and magnesia, quartz and gravel, ra3 exists in the above-mentioned countries where alfalfa yields its prolific and often spontaneous, herbage for ten ! months of the year (when under irrigation) when otherwise it only can exist during the preservation of moisture in the soil. Wheat on the contrary, re- j quires more silica, and has 67.88 of this constituent in its straw and grain. | It is, therefore, called a silica plant, as j indeed are all cereals. People* therefore, who wish to bring this fine lucerne to perfection, must look for lime soils. The average composition of; lucerne is as follows*: — Water 73.41 , \ flesh-forming matters, 4.4Qj respiratory and fatty matters, 19.11; 'inorganic substances, 3.08. It contains less water than the vetch, sanfoin, and white j or red clovers. White and yellow clovers slightly exceed it in flesh constituents which yield again to the strength and vigor and quantity of the alfalfa. ..,*.< It may be said that this digression' has >: not much to do with the navigation ,qf the Molyneux*. Yet it has, for it means hay, hides, wool, hoofs and horns, bones, cereals, beef^ mutton, fmit, an^yj^gpty ables. These are the main . stsapjle^oli some countries, and are the p^mc|f^| of the following- industries :-r-tg.nneS||^ woolen cloth factories, glue: <#|$ks; j artificial manure works, gri|t|i-j^ll*^-| meat preserving' works and |im.iig^^|S serving factories, dye works] ;^Ci|%^in| these industries are al^ft^fjvpß^|^| moted when located Ao^qaA;j^oA,MM

■ large soft water river j as the Molyneux, and call for many assiatafits ?» tan bark which may be' bbtaihed [ from the red birch which is to beifound I in large : quantities ihAe ;Lake Wakai tip, Wanaka, and Hawea bitshes, where i good dyes are knowu to exist. Timber I is also required for all these, purposes i as also coal. Of tbis last requisite, the , river banks have large deposits,, so that no objection can be put forward against "nature fbr not adapting the Molyneux for steam traffic on this account. The , natural industry found in this scope of country is gold mining. This would I receive an immense benefit, in the i supply of machinery, timber, and goods, . enabling companies to lay out more on their ground in plant and employment of labor, and to give better wages, thus producing a natural flow of prosperity: : The chief reasoh why gold costs so much •as it is said to do, is because of tiie famine prices of goods*, machinery, and timber. Dear at first cost at the emporium, what can they be after, being, transmitted over the roads from Dunedin via the Hogburn to CromWeU. or from the same place via : Invercargill to Queenstown? ltis said railways wili open up this and tjiat ; so they willi, no doubt when formed, but they cannot perform the duty qf water-ways, especially when these said ways are already made, with only a few accidental impediments intervening between us and a flourishing river trade. .Railways in the United States have not yet succeeded in closing the trade of the Erie Canal, nor that which outflanks Niagara, by a series of locks and delivers the produce of the western lakes. Neither have they destroyed the trade of the Chicago ship canal although they have increased prodigiously. Let us hope the day is not far distant when the enterprise of our chief men will prove itself equal to the times, and that the Molyneux will take its proper place in the history of Otago.