The new year didn't start off well for Alford. On 18 January 1866 he gave notice in the local papers that 'a five pounds reward will be given to any person giving such information as will lead to the conviction of the person or persons who, on the night of the 16th January, willfully and maliciously damaged the Stone Wall erected at Kent Town, on the property of Mr Alford, where a new fence is being erected' As there is no record of its success or otherwise, we can only assume that the culprit(s) got away with it.
Having turned fifty in February, Alford was still interested in mining and in June was able to show with CG Ive about four ounces of gold from the Sixth Creek workings. It was got at a depth of about six feet, on the north side of the creek, and was washed with the long-tom. According to the local paper, some of the nuggets were very fine, and, like former specimens from these diggings, were not waterworn'.
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JB Neales (SLSA)
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JB Neales employed a number of men to wash for gold in Sixth Creek where they obtained four ounces. Two years later he once more had some men washing for him on the Brazilian system, with bullock hides, which gave 14 ounces. It didn't turn out to what was expected or even hoped for. Maybe this time it would be different.
Now, twenty years later, the owners of the specimens were confident of being able to trace the precious metal into the quartz reef. Gold had also been found by other parties lower down the creek, of quite a different character, being flaky and worn. The newspapers hoped that they could soon report valuable discoveries in that area, 'as the existence of gold in different localities is undoubted, and it is fair to suppose it may, by perseverance, be found in larger quantities than hitherto'. Unfortunately, the results weren't any better than those of 1846.
In September 1866, during parliamentary business, one Member said that in his opinion the police force was not in the same state of efficiency which it was some 10 or 15 years ago, when Tolmer and Alford were at its head. He believed that if either of those men had been at the head of the force during the last few months, they would not have had so many cases of highway robbery.
There was something wrong in the present system he said.
The days of Alford and Tolmer were often quoted as the 'brightest days of the Police Force, it being contended that there were now 'too many namby-pamby fellows, with kid gloves and no end of etiquette'. One member, Mr Coglin spoke of Alford, as a most efficient officer.
In February 1867, another race meeting was organized by Alford, but this time opposite his hotel. It turned out to be even more successful with customers attending his hotel all day. If not busy with horse racing or his hotel, Alford also kept up his interest in mining and was still involved with the Sixth Creek Mining Company as well as the Daly and Stanley mines in the northern Flinders Ranges.
More than fifty years later, in 1922, they were still on. (SLSA) |
Politics was also on his list and he attended many council or other meetings. He was never afraid of expressing his viewpoints, privately or in public. However, on 7 May 1868 he expressed them a little too forcefully. In fact, he physically assaulted one of the parliamentarians during an evening meeting when he was called a 'pis-ant'. Alford was charged and fined five pounds, plus cost for his behaviour.
Somehow he, and most of the public, were not too concerned though. Alford was liked and in the news many a times for different reasons. In September 1868 one paper reported, 'We have on more than one occasion called attention to the very superior articles produced from wool by Mr H Alford. On Monday, September 21, a huge and very handsome mat prepared by him was exhibited at the Royal Show, which attracted general admiration'.
'The wool was of first-rate staple; the skin having been taken from cross-bred sheep. The fleece being of the most delicate fineness and softness, and the staple 9 inches in length. The tanning, cleansing, and getting up of both skin and wool are perfection itself, and a more creditable specimen of colonial industry would be difficult to meet with'.
In November it was said that at the Hindmarsh show 'a capital show of dressed fleeces and woollen mats, victorines, &c., were exhibited by Mr Henry Alford, Samuel Lawrance, and James Jacob. It is very evident that these woollen manufactures are fast rising into importance. The excellent and varied show of earthenware, ranging from the small bird fountain to a large sized barrel, proved that, so far as the common ware is concerned, our local manufacturers are able to supply the local demand'.
Alford exhibited 'two or three icy-white mats, and on Thursday he forwarded nearly 60 skins of all descriptions, some made up into mats, and others dressed ready for manufacture. Mr Alford was warmly congratulated upon the success which he had attained in this direction. They included 33 lambskins, 23 dressed white sheepskins, one Angora goat skin, six native animal skins and two white mats'. He was awarded a prize of 42 shillings. and an honorable mention for his collection of dressed lamb and other skins.
A few months later, a number of squatters promised to send skins for the purpose of having them turned into carriage and parlour rugs, as considerable demand existed for them among captains of British and foreign vessels. Alford fortunately possessed the requisite knowledge for their manufacture, having been engaged in the business when a boy in England. If he succeeds, 'as we doubt not, he will, in establishing a considerable trade, it will be a profit, not only to himself and to the sheep farmers. but to the colony as a whole'.
Alford intended, at the forthcoming show in February, to make a good and as extensive display as possible, for the purpose of showing thoroughly what may be done. Most of the skins we saw 'being only retained in stock till after that event. In connection with the work, he now employs one man and a boy. The latter, it may be mentioned, was obtained from one of the public institutions, having been assigned for three years, we presume, under the recent Act relating to Industrial and Reformatory Schools. As the requirement of the business increase it is Alford's intention to employ other boys in the same manner'.
While involved in all this work he still ran the Glynde Hotel with the help of his wife. At the 1869 Royal Show, Alford presented a collection which quite eclipsed his former efforts. This time there were 48 dressed sheepskins, most of them Leicester, three or four of them merinos, belonging to Mr. Murray, cleansed until they had become a perfect picture of snowy whiteness.
Next to these were placed lambskins, one of them the skin of an Alpaca lamb with its soft glossy silken staple of wool. Nearby was the tanned and dressed hide of a white kangaroo, with the feet attached, as Alford feared that an incredulous public might doubt whether the animal was what it was reported to be. From the Gawler and Strathalbyn Shows, it was reported that 'We thought Alford's fine display of dressed sheepskins and lambskins the most important feature of the Show. Even the waste pieces, as they would be called, were made use of by being wrought into small cuffs, collars and victorines.
The beauty of the sheepskin mats, some with long fine silky fleeces, others with shorter and thicker, but all beautifully white, was a source of general attraction. Mr Alford has been very successful in this new branch of native industry, and not a sheepskin ought to be wasted while he can work it up into an article of such beauty and value'. During the year his work was also exhibited at other country shows as well as at local fairs.
His articles were also for sale in several Adelaide establishments and even dispatched to India. At the October, 1869, Exhibition, several reports commended his work. It was also said that 'Alford is doing his best to push this industry, which ought to become a highly important one in the colony, and we trust his efforts will be fully appreciated, and warmly supported'. A month later Alford was involved with John Baker, Dr Davis and others, advocating the granting of a bonus to encourage the establishment of a woollen cloth industry.
From the 1870 show it was reported that 'Our report would be incomplete without a special allusion to Mr Alford's handiwork which, on this occasion was conspicuous and attracted marked attention. In addition to several sheep and lamb skin mats, he exhibited two fleeces of Angora wethers from the flock of Mr H C Swan, of Angorichina. They are admirably finished, and it is understood are to be sent home'.
By the middle of 1870 Alford had his own factory. It was inspected by Mr Townsend, who 'expressed a hope that no technical difficulties would be placed in the way of a man receiving a bonus if he had honestly earned it. (Hear, hear.) He stated that Mr Hay and himself had visited Alford's mat factory, and Mr Alford informed them that with a little encouragement he could make blankets equal to those imported. It would be wise to give encouragement to this industry'.
Soon a case of mats or dressed skins was shipped to India by Alford, which contained some beautiful specimens of dressed sheepskins. Some of the fleeces, it was said, 'for fineness of texture and length of wool, were quite remarkable. Great care had evidently been bestowed in their preparation, equal, if not superior in quality, to anything of the sort they have seen in this country'.
With increasing business, Alford once more advertised for a strong, active lad for general work. During the 1870s he almost every year was awarded first prize at the Royal Show and in 1873 exported his work to London and Vienna. As the Alford family were now living at the hotel, he advertised his house at Kent Town which could be let and contained 7 rooms with a large shed and garden with water laid on. It seems that he was unsuccessful this time.
On 26 June, 1875, at the Glynde Hotel, after a short illness, Alford's wife Elizabeth Ann, aged 59 years, passed away. She had been highly respected and was a colonist of 38 years. He informed his and her friends that his late wife would be removed from the Glynde Hotel, on the 29th to be buried at the West Terrace Cemetery. Two years later, on 31 May 1877, Alford married Ellen Taylor Hunter. In 1878 the licence for the Glynde was transferred to his son Edwin, who kept it for many years.
When Charles Chandler died, Alford attended his funeral on 25 August 1878 at Happy Valley and was now the oldest living colonist who had arrived on the John Pirie. Between 1877 and 1880 the newspapers ran a long series of articles on the old colonial days which featured both Alford and Tolmer in almost every issue. The articles resulted in many letters to the Editor.
On 17 December 1878, Samuel Tomkinson wrote, Inspector Tolmer and Sergeant-Major Alford risked their lives repeatedly. Their pluck, ingenuity, and resources strike one with admiration. Readers were encouraged to read Alford's own account of the tracking and capture of Morgan at Encounter Bay, of his taking Storey in the Mount Lofty Tiers, of his springing on the back of Stagg the murderer and holding on against long odds until assistance came.
WL O'Halloran added, 'It is but a just tribute to the official merits of men who have risked life and limb for their country's weal on numerous dangerous public services only to meet the usual reward accorded to unpretending, quiet, and faithful public servants by the authorities and the indiscriminating mass they represent'.
Were these two men, 'who know neither fear nor favour in their public duty, even now employed in the neighbouring colony the career of the Kelly gang would not long continue; and an old South Australian Inspector of Police (now employed in a subordinate capacity) would thus earn at other hands the competence he is entitled to for long, faithful, and meritorious services unrequited by Government or public on this side the border'.
Another comment read; 'I am very glad to see Mr Tomkinson coming forward to advocate the just interests of the two best Inspectors we ever had in South Australia, and I think it is a disgrace to the Government and the people of South Australia that they did not have a good pension and a lunch and testimonials. But now you will see a clerk or some contractor, who have been well paid for what they have done, feasted up to their eyes for doing nothing'.
As late as July 1880 it was stated in parliament 'that Alford ventured his life as much as Tolmer, and although not in command, the greater portion of the hard work fell upon him. Alford had assisted in ridding the colony of a class of persons who would have been a pest and a disgrace to it'. Tolmer was eventually paid a thousand pounds bonus, but Alford missed out altogether.
Whereas most people would be thinking of retiring when they reached the age of 65, Alford was not one of them. On 13 December 1881 he made it known that he intended to build a hotel on the corner of Carrington and Regent Streets which would be called the Australian Empire Hotel. Not only that, he would also apply for a publican's licence. Unfortunately for him, the Board opposed the application on the ground that the building was not required.
It must have been a great disappointment for him; was this going to be the end of it; what else was there to do? Concentrating on his garden or sitting in the sun reminiscing? Although out of sight, he was not out of mind. Even more than 30 years after his resignation from the force, articles appeared in the local papers about his time as constable or inspector, which in turn created more letters to the editor from those who agreed or disagreed with the editor.
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