BROAD BAY.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 10495, 19 October 1895, Page 8

BROAD BAY.

Dr Hocken, in one of his valuable papers on theearly history of Otego.statai thatthe locality now known as Broad Bay was first selected as the site for the settlement. Although the present Dunedin would nofvery well fit in, ft shows that in those early times, with the whole harbour to select from, it had a special attraction, and to those acquainted with the locality it is not surprising. Ifae bay from Gtf7 ?«°* to what tbe harbour boatmen used to call the Yellow Bluff forms a splendid semicircle about a mile and a-balf across with plenty of water and without recks ot s&ndbaaks ThegentlyrisUig land, with the Harbooc Cone in the background, for Vesuvius mates it the Bay of Naples on a small scale. Po- yachtsmen it is the favourite rendezvous, and on fine Sundays there are osusUy halt a dozen yacbts at anchor and a< many more cruising about But the little sheltered Bandy beached hidden from the road form the principal attraction in mason for its safe bathing. The only tain" wanting appears to be hot water laid on from the subterranean regions, or a sodawater or lemonade spring. One reason "that the place is not as well known as it might bs is that tha same parties almost invariably secure the cottages available year after year. Several have scarcely missed a snmmer for the last 20 years so that fresh faces can only be-secared by providingextta accommodation. An attempt hasbeen made this year to get over that little difficulty by providing more " room. Kve caw houses have been put up and several enlarged • smongstthe former.Green's private accommodation house of 17 rooms takes the cake foe size and proximity ,to the favourite bathing place. The locality, although providing, the earliest spring vegetables, cheap bathing, plenty of ozone, and a. level stretch of 14 miles of beach read {Danedin to Portobello), is not allowed to- have any bicyclss. The "bike" can't get through the Waverley toll; But a few days ago a wheelmaa more venturesome than the rest struck the road (spia is' not i mennfc), as ho says, half a mi!e on the Portobello eide of the toll. He was at once pounced on by the road board officials and made to pay the 5a toll or be summoned. Payiiag had no attraction for him, but he judged it the lesser evil.