So, I have an early bike which SHOULD have the drum front brake for the model year of my bike, but I have a late model disc brake in it's place. You have an early model drum front brake.
WTBS, I think the mechanism is the same to secure the wheel. On the axle there are 2 diameters. The axle's wider diameter goes through the left slider completely so the shoulder of that wider diameter goes up against the dust cover of the wheel... That leaves the minor diameter to go through the left side dust cover, the left side inner bearing race, the center spacer for the inner races, the right side bearing inner race the right side dust cover, the wheel spacer on the right side, and then the slider...
When you tighten the axle nut you tighten everything from the shoulder of the axle where the minor diameter starts to the nut on the axle. the spacer between the inner bearings secures the wheel so it's under the proper tension without fighting any small discrepancies with the possible variation of the overall spacing of the forks... So, in order to have both the wheel under the proper tension the left side fork slider actually floats on the major diameter of the axle... That float is eliminated and the slider is secured by the last process performed when you assemble the front end. You leave the left fork pinch bolt loose and pump the front forks up and down so the fork slider aligns itself with the path that the fork defines and then you secure the pinch bolt... Now your wheel races are under proper tension secured to the right slider, and your final pinch bolt tightening has made your forks align in parallel so your sliders should move without excessive friction....
The fact that you see space on the left side of the dust cover is because the axle has that dual diameter shoulder that tensions the wheel bearings and the tension is not between the 2 sliders as you might think, it's between the right slider and the shoulder of the axle... Then the left slider is secured with the pinch bolt separately to add the quality of sliders being parallel.