Notes from Big Bay. (From Our Special Correspondent.)

Otago Witness, Issue 1874, 21 October 1887, Page 13

Notes from Big Bay. (From Our Special Correspondent.)

October 4. My part}', se^» an^ stores were safely lauded here per s.s. Stella on the 2nd hist, at nearly low water, spring tides, the landing being at its worst at low water. There are a dozen men working here, some of whom came in the s.s. Hiuemoa a year ago. One of them has his wife and little boy with him. They have done a lot of hard work, and are getting a little gold. They complain very much of the difficulty of getting provisions aud stores. Captaia Fairchikl states that he has instructions nofc to sell a thing to settlers about this part of the coast from the s.s. Stella. I should like to have the gentleman who gave those instructions hard at work for three months among the boulders and sandflies, living on salt meat and bread, and when that was nearly exhausted and he was in need of boots for his feet and clothes for his back, to show him everything in the shape of provisions and stores his heart could desire, and then when he had had a good look, to take them all away. This action of the Government forces the settlers to deal with the s.s. Waipara, of Hokitika, which receives a subsidy of £1200 or £1400 a year to make six trips from Hokitika to Milford, Sound, calling at intermediate coast settlements. They complain bitterly of the way the Waipara attends to their needs. They can get nothing whatever from her but flour at £30 a ton, potatoes (sometimes), and tobacco of the worst description. Clothes, boots, medicine, and luxuries are out of the question. They say some of the tobacco poisoned all hands when being smoked. It smelt of coal tar, and had the appearance of being damaged sheepwash tobacco cooked up for sale,- • This delightful compound was sold afc 7s per lb. The charge for passage to Hokitika from Milford or Martin and Big Bays is £5 saloon and £3 steerage ; freight, £4 per ton. She never blays a minute longer than it takes her to laud her mails, &c., giving no time to answer letters— very different from the days when genial Captain Malcolm in the Maori always obliged the settlers in this respect if possible. On one occasion the Waipara sent her boat just near enough to the landing to pitch the mail on shore and have the outward mail pitched back. The man in charge of the boat said the steamer would call in on her way back from Milford with provisions. This promise was not kept, although the weather was fine; and the settlers, who all wanted provisions, had to do without. It is the opinion of all here that as things are managed at present it would be little loss to the settlers if the Waipara were to cease running. Were she discontinued, and tho Stella could be relied on to bring at a fair price decent provisions, a few pairs of boots, some clothes, and a bottle or two of medicine, and also give passages at reasonable rates once every three months, they would be a long wiy better off than they are. To do this won hi not. delay the Stella much, seeing she culls at most of the places as ifc is, and would save the country an unnecessary expenditure of £1200 or £1400 a year. These men on the \W<t ( 'oast are the best of colonists, aud doing more than most to develop the resources of New Zealand ; yet the p >licy followed towards them seems calculated to n.ake them leave the country. Ifc seems as if those who remain in towns and swell the ranks of the unemployed can rely upon Government help and support, but those who have the pluck to look for work for themselves, like these men, in the oat-of-the-way West Coast settlements, many of whom have been driven by hard times from comfortable homes in Otago and elsewhere, Government rewards by making it as expensive and difficult as possible either to communicate with their friends, obtain stores, or shift from place to place.