LOWER MOLYNEUX.

Dunstan Times, Issue 681, 7 May 1875, Page 3

LOWER MOLYNEUX.

—o — Balclutha, April 27th, 1875. The navigation of the Lower Molyneux has once again been attempted in earnest, and upon this occasion with every promise of proving a most unqualified success. The old Tuapeka steamer, which used to ply spasmodically up and down the river upon such occasions as whenever public pressure was brought upon the Government so as to induce them to subsidise their efforts, has been finally dismantled and the machinery transhipped to a new boat named The Balclutha, owned by Mr G. F. Reid, of Dunedin, and built here at Port Molj neux, by Mr Robert Mason, who also designed the vessel after an original plan of Ids own, and one which experience gained on the Molyneux suggested. The Balclutha made her trial trip on Monday last, and after steaming up to Kaitangata, where 'she took in o large quantity of coals together with 80 tons of cargo, making, with a quantity of railway sleepers, which she previously had on board, a total of some 150 tons, she steamed up the main branch of the Molyneux to Balclutha, where she arrived in the evening. The steamer behaved splendidly, and was turned round in her own length, while she can also be run sideways on to the banks, so that passengers only have to jump from her hows on to the shore. With her large cargo on board her draught of water was only three feet. The Balclutha will trade further up the river as far as the Greenfield Station, and probably to the Tuapeka Mouth, 30 miles above this place. The Molyneux he -e presents a very different aspect from what it does at the Dunstan ; it must be at least a quarter of a mile wide, and bordered by some of the most magnificent pasture lands it is possible to imagine. The great fiat of the Molyneux is all low lying, and the river forms several islands—that of Inch Clutha is about ten miles long by two broad, and contains some magnificent farms. The growth of the pasture lands is extraordinary, and the cattle cannot eat it down. Crops of oats yield from seventy to eighty bushels to the acre, and the farmers sell their produce readily to Dunedin speculators ; their market is absolutely at tbeiv very doors. Besides InchClutba their are several other small islands, beautifully wooded and highly picturesque. Those near the sea are apparently well stocked with pheasants, and they may be frequently seen flying to and fro between their island homes and the main land. Where the waters of the great river discharge into the sea is a sight worth seeing There has evidently been a great estuary at one time, but the overwhelming power of the rollers setting in from the great Pacific Ocean, has heat up a large sandspit like an enormous embankment almost across the whole length of its mouth, keeping the river back towards the land until the whole volume of the water is collected almost up into a comer, when it further defies the thunders of Old Neptune, and enters by a narrow channel into the old sea god’s kingdom. Far out to sea may he distinguished the brown hue of the 'waters of the Molyneux, which appear to refuse for a long time to blond themselves with the emerald green of the ocean, an evidence of the body of water discharged by the father of New Zealand rivers. The current here runs about four miles an hour, and its strength is such that, although the river rises and falls with the tide during the last six miles of its course the sea water never enters, and right up to the bar where the two aqueous elements embrace each other the water is as fresh as at the Dunstan ; and, I am told that in very calm weather it may be dipped up in scarcely a brackish state for some dis tance seaward. In cases when the river is very low the water inside the bar as far as Port Molyneux may be a little brackish, but this very seldom occurs. Mr Reid’s steamer, The Balclutha, must prove a very valuable addition to tho commerce of the Lower Molyneux, and cannot fail but to open up a very valuable trade. Farmers by her means are placed iu direct communication with Dunedin, as Mr Reid’e steamer the Lady of the Lake runs in conjunction with her. Ido not generally agree with tho principles of Government subsidies, hut if Mr Reid continues his boat on the river, so that her services are of important public benefit, he should after a stated period be entitled to some special recognition of his services. For a single-handed enterprise it is something considerably beyond the common.

Your old Clyde resident Mr Thomas Stanhrook is here as Host of the Crown Hotel. It is a very fine house, and does the leading trade of the place. It has the whole of the coaching, and is the resort of the largo majority of the commercial world. Mr Stanhrook, as mine host, appears to he admirably placed, and fills Lis new position with becoming dignity. I feel assured that his Clyde friends desire him every success.