A MEMORABLE RUIN.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume VIII, Issue 2185, 5 January 1886, Page 2

A MEMORABLE RUIN.

The following history of a building which has witnessed many of the hardships of the early settlers is given in the Sjlaran'aki Herald, i—People" pacing along the Carrihgtdii'Ooad lately' must have been strucjt by the sights masonry work, which lias been disclosed in the bed of the Huatoki stream, about midway between the railway bridge and tho entrance to 'the Recreation Grounds. This ia all that is left of the old Alpha flour mill. In the early days of the settlement (1843), Mr Bundle and the late Mr S. Oliver acquired from the local agent of the New Zealand Company $e piece of land where therujns, are visible, fdrflifl'pufpqqf proving a flop mill, ifjuch was''then much wan'toct by the little settlement, The flrsfcgrinding stones, whjoli may stijl be aeen, were made from colliders prooured from tho beach, and a waterwheel 13 feet in diameter was constructed,' for the motive power.' This mill ground all the flour used, hyMis settlers in the early &$j x and considerable quantities pie alio exported to' Welling-. tp,n- : : ' : She" 'flour for 'exportation was cairted to the beaehby thelat'e Mr Jolf, whose team comprised four goats and a pair'bfdog's.' Wjth 'this 1 strange team many-hundreds of tons were taken from the rhill; ; : .'Tp; give' of tho; : extent' ofthe'toutsidei demand, ibis only necessary to state!that : a 'trader' frpW'Wellington, brother Co the' late,'Mr Murcti, vjho, at different times was' '■•'scjj6oinw»ter and hiitelkeepef : in the settlement in the early days, oame up r*riodn»Py to lay in

__ —r r- —.-.. ■ ...y/, ■-!..- stocks for the English vessels. On 'Mr/■'..' Hulke arriving in the settlement and ' ' building the Union Mill, which had a • ■•./- better class of machinery, it was fount, . ;' ; necessary to'improve on the old Alrjjjg Mill. A new-building was accordigSy.: v erected on the old sight, and Frenra?'-' -: stones and silks were put into use. It ' : ; was, howover, found that there was not •- ■ room tor two flour mills in Taranaki, and .'; v after the Alpha had beon idle some time, .'• Mr Oliver bought Mr Hulke out of the • Union Mill, and the machinery of the Alpha Mill, with the exception of .fcljw water-wheel and the original stones,, was disposed of to the Maoris. The '.water// . .'. wheel was afterwards used by the late Mr V ;;' . Antony Brooking as the motive power of a small sawmill, which, in. ram, gave " place to a bone crushing mill, run by, tho - /..'. late Mr Decimus Atkinson. The old.spot ALi>; will very likely once again bo utilised, and W-' it is reported that the clearing up which is at present being carried on there is at the direction of Mr Hulke, who intends to erect a butter factory. ' '-:..■■'•:■•/