DREDGING ON UPPER BURMA.

Otago Witness, Issue 2811, 26 August 1908, Page 28

DREDGING ON UPPER BURMA.

We have been permitted to make the {e&t lowing extracts from an interesting letter! reoentiy written by -a New Zealander, wha is connected -with the dredging industry -on the Nmai IDia River, Myitkyina, Upper} Burma.: — The Irawadi River is from a quarter of ai - mile to a mile wide, and is very rocky in 1 ■ many places; also very deep. In mansplaces as much as 100 ft of water is lanoxmai to exist before touching bottom. The Nmai E3ia River (the -one that I am on -at present) is About 600 yards wide, -also yery swift-flowing — 'far worse current than tihe; River Molyneux at Alexandra. This is the , river that the late J. 'Hrewen, (well-knowni .- about Alexandra, and Clyde) was drowned" in. This last eeason , the company lias been, idoing- -very well indeed.- It liaa* % .three dredges working .during the season^ which lasts eight, months -out of 32. JForv • the other four .months the river, is high*; . during the rainy season, which is ■on at present. Tie river rises 4.oft or more', - some seasons. At the present time (Junm. 23) she is up 32Sft, -and has 'been so for a , week now. Eighty miles below Myitkyinai * at a defile, 6he has been known" "to Tise 109 ft.' Not a bad rise! All launch traffic is stopped througth the defile during the rainy' season. The largest gold return for " one week by one of the dredges "was 3780z. The other two dredges have .hud over 2500z eachf last season, so you will see -that there is «i little gold about when we get on to it. Thenames of the dredges axe the Rose, Shamrock, and Thistle, they have been working" up to the present time. The old dredge called th© Alexandrabroke away, and was mink two seasons ago. Th-e Moa, -that is just about boihpleted, is the latest gold dredge built up to date. She has buckets -of 10 cubic*" feet oaipacrty, and 'will be able to dredge 68ft below the water level. The length ofj *" the pontoons is 140 ft, width and depthrBft. The dredge is to be driven by a suction .gas plant. All Europeans working orf the dredges are on the bonus system* We get one rupee (1 4d) per -ounce on all gold won -over 2Woz for a four--week month. I will give you a list of the bonus records for the last eeason, just clssed. The Rosei dredge gave a bonus to each man of 2100 rupees; the Shamrock, one of 757 rupees ;i and the Thistle, one of 639 rupees. I expect to see the Shamrock put up over *,v 3000 bonus for «ach apan next season front' the wav ,she was soaping when we closed,' down for high river, and we have a. very nice piece of river in front of us. are. within five miles of the, Chinese boundlary. Up to the present time no -European has been -allowed to -go across the boundary,--as the -Kachins .natives ere a "very treacherous lot, and are -scalp collectors, thought as far --as I- have «een ,fchey are .not a bad lot if you treat them fairly. -They- . cut all the firewood for the dredges, and do a lot of work for the. -company. They . are twice the workers that the Malay on Javanese are— that is, when you get them; to understand. The crews on the dredige» consist of Burmese, Kachins, and Indiana (natives). Sunday. July 5.-r-It haa beeiS raining for a whole week -steadily, and is also very -cold. The river here at present is reading 43ft above normal, and still ris» ing at the xate of a foot an hour. I don't know when I'll be back to New Zealand! again. If I have any luck wrfih -this company, I in-tend to stay at least twa ! years.