ALEXANDRA

Dunstan Times, Issue 888, 25 April 1879, Page 3

ALEXANDRA

(from our own correspondent.) The bridge across the Manuhenkia, and situate immediately above Alexandra, will be completed this week, but when the approaches to it will be made so as to allow of traffic crossing, is entirely a different thing. That the structure is a necessary one is proved by the fact that the residents of Alexandra and district subscribed towards the cost the sum of one hundred and fifty pounds, and it therefore behoves the County Council to put the finishing stroke on it by making the approaches. During the winter season, when the river Molynenx is low, a considerable population settle themselves on the beaches and banks, and as the bridge was constructed principally to accommodate them, the necessity becomes more apparent that no time should he allowed to lapse before the tinish'ng work is gone on with. That is one reason that can be urged, hut another, and perhaps a far stronger one, is that as nearly a thousand pounds have been expended on the bridge, to allow it to remain idle for the sake of anotder two or three hundred would be a standing disgrace to the County, and lead to the belief that it is of no use. Though perhaps a less expensive structure would have answered every purpose, there is no denying that a ready and safe means of crossing the Manuherikia was always required, not only to accommodate those immediately concerned, hut to facilitate general traffic. Ready means of communication between place and place - is the sure forerunner of settlement, and in this direction, rather than in beautifying, should the energies of the Counties, and in fact all local bodies, be directed. The tenders for the bridge across the Molynenx at this place will have been opened before this is in print, but 1 am sorely afraid none will be accepted. Now this is only an opinion, and a very hazardous one doubtless, but what j is the good of having an opinion without exj pressing it, and as 1 have one, and your columns give the opportunity, I take the advantage. The main grnun 1s for my opinion is the score of expense. It is not alone mine, but that of every one else I have spoken to on the subject, that the sum voted by the County for chi;, work—Lls.o3o ■ —will not nearly look at it ; nod as that body has not the power to exceed by any large amount a former vote, there will bo nothing for it but to amoad the plans to

bring them within the margin. The plans are very elaborate, and reflect great credit on the County Engineer, but there lies the fault—they are too elaborate. I cannot help but think the Council in this matter, as in a great many others, have gone the wrong way to work, unless it is their desire to emulate the late Provincial Council in trying—how not to do it. In many places where large and important works are undertaken, the task of providing plans is not left to one man or one sot of men in one office, but tenders are open to the world for designs, and in some instances combined with tenders for the work. In the matter of bridges the system would work admirably, because out of the many who would compete there would be one who would take into consideration the probable rise and fall of tbe water. Were this the universally accepted plan, the many grand and noble structures that were washed away by the late flood, would not have shared the fate they did; at all events the one at Clyde would not, as I can remember as well as if it were hut yesterday, that the contractor and every one else connected with it said it was too low, but they had to abide by lire plan, not one of a number, hut one the production of one ofiice (the Provincial Engineer’s). However, as it is not the duty of an occasional writer to so much express his opinions as to deal with facts, 1 will leave the somewhat dangerous ground entered upon and strike for a new path. Affairs mining in tin's neighbourhood are not looking perhaps so bright as of old, but still there are some few places turning out a good bit of gold. These places are, notably, Doctor’s Point, Butcher’s Point and Gully, Conroy’s Gully, Brennan’s Gully, Bald Hill Flat, and the slopes of the Old Man Range, not mentioning the banks of the Molyneux above Alexandra, and the bed of the river being dredged hy the M’Lellan’s current wheel dredge. These places employ a goodly number of bands, all of whom, besides mining, cultivate a piece of ground of greater or less extent, and consequently succeed in making a very handsome thing. Speaking of land, 1 notice that on the flat immediately above the town a good deal ot fencing is going on, 1 suppose with the view of cultivating it. I also hear that the Corporation have received intimation that 400 acres on the flat has been sot aside for them as an endowment. This area is to be fenced in and planted with trees. The Conroy’s reef, which a great number of your readers will well remember, some of them doubtless to their cost, is again attracting attention. Some short distance from the old workings, but on the same Hue, a conglomerate of quartz anil mullock, some four or five feet wide, has been discovered. Good gold can he obtained from this, and with the view of testing it a company is to be formed. It is to be hoped tbe company in embryo will not fall into the same error their predecessors did, namely, spending the whole of their capital in expensive machinery before they had sufficiently tested their find The prevailing opinion among all practical miners who have a knowledge of the district, is that an auriferous lode exists in the district, and that any strong indication is worth following. Ho richer deposits of gold were ever opened than were in Conroy’s Gully and its branches, not excepting even the famed gullies of old Victorian Bendigo, the whole of which now abound in quartz mines ; the assumption therefore of the existence of quartz reefs in this neighbourhood is not at all fallacious. I, however, would reiterate my advice to those who may go into the now company before they enter into the expense of machinery to well prove its worth. This same advice has been given scores of times before, and had it been taken, so ranch valuable money would not be, as now is the case, lying about the various ranges in the shape of deserted crushing batteries and all their expensive paraphernalia. I hear the members of the A.O.F. Court Pride of Alexandra, purpose celebrating their anniversary with a ball on Friday, May 23rd, but as you will have the advertisement giviii" every particular, I don’t feel called upon to say further.