ALEXANDRA.

Dunstan Times, Issue 500, 17 November 1871, Page 2

ALEXANDRA.

(from our correspondent.) What, with the wind and the dust this place is becoming almost unbeasoble, and the beauty of it is, the plague under which we suffer could be remedied partially, if not in the whole by our town Council, would that the wiseacres who compose that body take manfully ta the task. If time is wasted over such chimerical schemes as forcing the water from the Molyneux, or constructing a race from the Manuherikia, I am afraid it will lie a long time before the election promises of Mr. Chappie our mayor will be fulfilled ; utopian ideas such as these must be abandoned, and something more practical considered, without doubt it is a question easily solved, as there is water to be had, and moreover, at no very great cost, there being channels to convey the liq id element to the borders of the town already constructed. I have again touched on this matter, as a kind of reminder, thinking per* baps that among the multifarious duties the i corporate body have to deal with, this one might have been forgotten, I do not presume to im igine for a mom nt it has been shelved A light has just flashed upon me, would a limpid stream of Adam’s ale affect the sale of leer and other cooling beverages the bonifaces retail to thirsty mortals at 6d. per glass ? Perhaps all concerned will be kind enough to think over this. Aim ng the miners greater activity is discernable than forsome timejrevi us ! y, cmsequently a decided impetus has been given to [trade. The qnaitz icefs at Conroy's and Butcher’s are the principal attraction but as yetlthe prospectors claim at Conroy’s, is the only one getting gold, up to the p esent time everything has gone on satisfactory, the claim continues to produce plenty of quartz, and the machine which is the neatest and most compact thing in quarts crushing machinery 1 have seen for a lo ig time, is steadily doing i;s duty of disintegration, A clearing up will take place some time next week. 1 hear that dining this week some very rich stuff had hem come acioss in some part of the walkings, as much as 17 dwts being washed out of a very small piece of dirt, my informant told me the pr. speels of the party were better than ever. At Butcher’s the pumping gear, &c., is now on the ground, and the contractors are busy erecting same. It is thought that by the new year all will be in readiness to break down stone. A good few parties have lately set in to work the gullies between Conroy s and Butcher’s gullies, but with what results it has not transpired, there have bee i several lawsuits already, sol judge the ground is something more than payable. The whole of the mining ) arlies abort | twenty, ilnicingandot! erwi e engaged on tl e , banks of the Molynci x, nuiubci ng a’ out i one bun rc I and twenty men, are ail sua y I at work making good wages. The Ovens party have not as yet bottomed their paddock on the Manuherikia, they have a good drop of water to contend against but their pumping machinery is able to master it, great things are prophesied when the bottom is reached. The Sewcaatle coal pit on the Molyneux is flooded out, the pump which was only lately erected being unable to lower the water in the least, this is a serious thin" not only to the owner, Mr. Milne, who will , be a considerable loser, but to the entire population, who will have to get their supply of fuel from ei'her Clyde or the new pit at Blackman’s gully, a distance of at least six miles. The Blackman’s coal I hear is most excellent, far surpassing anythin hitherto dig wered in the district. Mr? Paget, one of the late proprietors of the Newcastle coal pit is the owner.