MARTIN'S BAY SETTLEMENT.

Otago Witness, Issue 987, 29 October 1870, Page 16

MARTIN'S BAY SETTLEMENT.

The following letter from Martin's Bay waa received last week. We present it to our readers jußt as it came, and allow it to tell its own story. Mr Whitworth knows who wrote ifc, and can vouch for its good faith :— "Martin's Bay Settlement, sth Oct 1870. R. P. Whitworth, Esq. Sir— The following will give you an idea of how we are situated in the new settlement. In the first place, we have had no communication from Dunedin since the Charles Edward, only the Esther Ann. I suppose every one knowa her fate. After fossicking for months finding the place, she attempts to come in at low water, and leaves her bones here as a relic of the earliest settlers. TheWaipara came here on the 6th ultimo ; it beujg rough weather, she landed some staff at the S.W. corner of the bay in the boat harbour, which costs anotb.br four or five pounds to get to the township, and makes another consideration in the prices. There is only Mr Allan who has got anything now, and he charges aa follows :— Flour, 35s per cwt ; bacon, 2s 6d, and hutter, 2s 6d per 1b ; sugar, Is per lb j tobacco, 10s per lb ; 6d for one of Burns's cutty pipes j and all the other little necessaries in proportion. The consequence is every one is leaving the place. We certainly expected some regular communication with Dunedin, with a chance to get things at a reasonable price. Surely the Otago Government do not expect Westland to look af cer their offspring, as I can assure them that they have quite enough to do in Wesfcland to look after their own affairs. Still, had this place belonged to them, I am perfectly satisfied that the Waipara would have landed at the township. There are some 30 or 40 miners gone back on the saddle. Every one appears to be under the impression that there is payable gold in this quarter, but with the present state of aff iirß it is impossible to look for it. This place will be entirely deserted again, if the Government do not, take steps immediately to form some regular communication with Dunedin. By inserting the above you will oblige— A Martin's Bay Settles."

We are indebted to a gentleman who Ips recently returned from Martin's Bay by the overland track to Lake Wakatip, for the following items of information regarding the settlement at the former place : — The settlers are actively engaged in breaking up the ground and putting in their crops. The weather haa been very fine on the whole during the winter, for the season of the year, the number of rainy days having been amall compared with the number on the East Coast during the same period. Most of theseotionsin Blocks I. and 11., facing the lake, have been taken up, as well as a number of the sections behind them, A pair of sawyera have commenced operations with pitsaws, and there was some talk when our informant left of erecting the machinery taken in the Esther Ann, and which had been allowed to lie unused. The health of all at the settlement was excellent, and they have only one grievance, though a serious one, viz., that; there is no means of communication with the outer world. From this cause provisions reached famine prices, and some of the settlers left altogether. A memorial, praying for the establishment of monthly communication with Dunedin, either by steamer or sailing vessel, has been signed by about forty of the settlers, and will be presented to His Honour the Superintenient on his return. What the isolation of the settlement is at present, may be imagined when we ! mention that only one mail has reached it in the course of four months. In fact we believe that if communication is not established, the greater portion, if not the whole, ' ef the settlers, will be compelled to leave, I and the settlement will be deserted. The track from Lake Wakatip at present extends ' only as far as the eastern side of the saddle at Lake Harris. If it were even continued to the other side of the saddle only, the chief difficulties of the route would be overcome, as the bush on the western aide of the range, though heavy, is comparatively open.