ALEXANDRA.

Dunstan Times, Issue 963, 1 October 1880, Page 3

ALEXANDRA.

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

Through the changes in the location of the 11 M. au 1 War lens, brought a limit by the scheme of retrenchment of the Government, will not affect this place, as \fe have not had the pleasure of a real lent officer here for some years past. Yet the subject is one of general conversation, ami all await with a certain anxiety the true card. Tor some months past We Itat’B had fortnightly sittings of the R. M. and Warden’s Courts, Major Keddell presiding, and weekly visits by the Clerk front Clyde, but if it is, as asserted, that .Major Keddell henceforth Will have {deluded in his district Queenstown, Arrowtown, and the whole of the Lake County, and that the Clyde Clerk is to he removed to Cromwell* we look upon it that we are to be left out in the cold. Now leaving out of tile question entirely the po'ivy of so radical a change, wo cannot Out think we are about being treated in a most cavalier and unjust manner* that is, if we are rightly informed as to the intended changes. Thu havin 'to travel a distance of seven miles to interview the Warden or the C'leik, when the necessity arose for an interview between the regular days of visit* was bad enough, hut to have that distance extended’to twenty miles, and moreover, to drive ns into a fora iiici/ffiiito, as in fact CrmnWell is, there being little or no more connection between ns than there is between Dunedin au I \\ ellington, so far as our commercial relationship and political opinions is c aicumed, is filling to the full and rtver/Jawitlg the cup of injustice. As I said before, we rtre awaiting the Correct card, and if the tin'll is anything like what is reported, we shall have something further to say. 1 have written the above in the plural we, as the opinion expressed is a general one. There lias been from time to time a good deal of correspondence between the people hete and capitalists in Dunedin on the subject of dredging the river for its Wealth of gold. From what I hear it is about bear i"S fmir, as there is now on the road the machinery for a dredge that is to he placed between here and Clyde. The exact principle on which it is constructed has not transpire 1, hut from what has dropped it is qu a principle not hitherto tried here. If it is on any common seflse principle, and Capable of removing in quantities the hardset and in mafi'y places coarse gravel that is in the bed and on the beaches of the Molyncux, It must perforce prove a payin'' investment. The style of dredge most suited to the Molyncux is the bucket and ladder, to be worked either by the river current or by steam, or perhaps it would bo better if both Wefe aortihifierT, ,-is then lhe eddies as well as the stream could be worked. Hitherto when steain power has been mentioned, the want of fuel at anything like a reasonable price has been the drawback, but that difficulty, if it ever existed, is g"ite, ns there are uo'W ntore coal pits than customer?, and any one of them would lie only too glad to obtain a "ood customer at a very low rate. Fraser°and M Kenzie s bucket and ladder current-wh-'el dredge, that I have taken occasion to frequently fiotice in my letters, is still working, and is handsomely paying her proprietors. There is some talk of he r being removed lower down the, river, right opposite Alexandra and just above the bridge, and tuns keep working up stream with a good face. The idea is a good one, and doubtless there is fully as much if not more gold down stream than where they are, hut a bird in the hand does not want catching,-and my advice has hbeft—Don’t. Speaking of motive powers reminds me of another power to those previously referred to—l mean the wind, ami as Boreas is pretty constant in her attendance either up or down or across the Valley of the Molyueux the rushing seething torrent of itself creates no inconsiderable current of air— I do not see why it could not be utilised. I saw the other day mi the fiat a windmill at work - r it is to ho attached to a set of pntfips for irrigation purposes, ft was a small affair of prirflitiye construction, hut there is no doubt it will answer every expectation. Anothei is also under construction, and I shall he but little surprsed in the course of a short time td sec the Dunstan I 1 hat, by means of windmills, couvcrte into a blooming garden. The new proprietary of • the Doctor’s Point claim have set into work and are more than satisfied with theft*, bargain I have known plenty of instances of old abandoned ground turning out fortunes almost from the first shovelful by a prirty, and it will be nothing particularly strange if this should turn out one of thoso Tara ares.

Some few weeks ago I think it was, I said that the bridge contractors had started

driving the piles for the foundation of tho moorings and approach on tho eastern side, well, they are still at it, and as tho grouild is terribly lull'd, it taking sometimes tho best part of a day to drive one pile tbe required distance, other piles smashing up, rather than be driven, they are likely to be over this Unpleasant at the same time unprofitable work for some tiille longer—it was truly impossible for a man to see 20ft. into the ground, but it has proved somewhat of a mistake la having piles instead of a soliil stone or Concrete foundation. A large quantity of irCn work in connection with the bridge- about twenty tons—is oil the grinlnd, and it all appears to be of a first-class character, reflecting credit on the fouudrymeu (Davidson and Co.) —1 don’t throw this in as a cheap advertisement— The mooring girders, which are some 46owt. each, are specially fine pieces of work, th ;y are cylinders, two feet square, made of, live-eights boiler plate, strongly rivetted together, and with angle iron e>vering the joints ; a large quantity of limber is also on the ground, and the wires, which have been in Liwrence some days, may be expocte 1 to arrive at any minute. Messrs Drummy alid Simnlomts, the contractors, both of whom are ever on the ground superintending the work, are proving themselves equal to the occasion, and it is to be hoped they will clear a thousand or two out of the job.