THE DREDGING INDUSTRY.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 7292, 3 January 1902, Page 2

THE DREDGING INDUSTRY.

It is the custom of some critics to ief%r to the dredging industry in Otago as a thing of the past. Nothing could be wider from the mark. The industry is not only not done with, but it is even in such a flourishing condition that those students who have watched its progress carefully predict a great revival in it during ihe next six months. They have some justification for their hopeful forecast. In spite of the difficulties which have had to be solved, the obstacles which have had to be surmounted, and a certain amount of rank bad luck, the industry has made considerable progress during the past twelve months. It has managed to survive the aftermath of a gambling boom, and to maintain its stability, even in the face of the crushing blows dealt it by wild specty lation, over-flotation, and their' attendantevils. It has experienced the ill-fortune of rivers rising abnormally high, and maintaining an extraordinary high level whan, in the ordinary course o,f events, they should have been at their lowest, and in various other ways it has not escaped the untoward mishaps which appear to be inseparable from all efforts to win gold. And yet, in spite of everything, the output of the; Otago dredges was larger than the returns from the same source during (he previous year. It is but fair to admit that this yierease is. attributable to the larger number of dredges which .were at work. At the same time, it is satisfactory to note that the total output is larger by 32080z than that of 1900, and that it exceeded the yield of 1899 by nearly 20,0000z. All things considered, therefore, we are not indisposed to endorse the sanguine predictions of those people who look forward to a better state of things during the coming year. At least it is impossible to ignore the reasons which have prompted their belief. In the first plao***, as they say, the Molyneux is hardly likely again: to- remain at the high level which it maintained throughout nearly the whole of last winter ; secondly, there are very good grounds for supposing that & considerable portion of the Clutha, which, until recently,- was held to be barren, will pay for dredging ; and thirdly, the financial exhaustion; created by the insane promotion of companies during the boom is practically ended. '. Of the future of the West Coast as a dredging field we have purposely refrained from saying anything, because the returns from that area are not forthcoming yet. But the output of some of the dredges during the lasb quarter of 1901 encourage the hope that the yield from the 'Coast will some day rival that from Otaigo. On the whole, therefore, it may be said that the present year has brought with it a feeling of confidence, and that there are good grounds for hoping that the dredging industry is aboub to enter upon an era of commercial prosperity.