Martin’s Bay Settlement.

Cromwell Argus, Volume IV, Issue 186, 3 June 1873, Page 7

Martin’s Bay Settlement.

The following lively description is from the I pen ( >f a correspondent of the Otajo Daily | Times;— | The settlement of Martin’s Bay does not | come up to my expectations. I expected to I 'find something of a country fit to settle in, I and was greatly disappointed. The township is situated on Lake M'Kerrow, about four miles from the sea, and consists of exactly eight houses, only five of which are occupied. I cannot say much for the scenery of the surrounding country. Lake M‘Kerrow is some eight miles long by two broad, and is shut in by perpendicular ranges, which comedown to the water’s edge, the whole of the lake being rockbound. The sea is not visible from the township, the view being cut off by bush and sandhills. Of arable land there is but very little, and one-half the land is | swampy and unfit for cultivation, as drainage I would be impossible. The farther you go j towards the ranges the more swampy the | j ground, becomes. The same is the case I throughout the whole valley of the Holly ford,' i and neither will ever be a farming country. \ ( a ‘l the miserable settlements I ever saw or i read of, Martin’s Bay is the worst. The I selection of the site is bad, and a mistake ; I and although it is three years since the set- | tiers first landed here, scarcely anything Ims | been done amongst the whole lot. Only | twelve acres have been cleared. Mind, no | stumps have been removed, the ground be- | tween being only scratched up with a hoe or I lake not dug with a spade—and sown with vlieat or potatoes. This extensive urea, 1 was told, was next year to be increased by I four acres. There are no fences whatever— I fr?* 1 80 im,c h iis m)() surrounding a garden, j three persons have made gardens, and an | area of half an acre will comprise the whole ; I about a couple of dozen currant and goose- | eiry bushes, with a few T willows and oaks, I cumpr se the whole of the plantations, which am rapidly receding into a state of nature. Lie settlement possesses, in live stock, about wo dozen fowls, and three pigs. The latter wave been placed on an island up the Lake to 80 that their owners might be saved me trouble of looking after them. The pro- <- uce of the cultivated plots is scarcely enough to last the settlers until next season. How I >cse enterprising people employ their time, j is impossible to say. From what I can I i 5 ea l 1 ’ * 3 s P er d thus : —ln the morning the ic,id of the family, or perhaps a grown-up ® ( a uiuglitor, goes out to shoot a sufficient 1 amity of pigeons for breakfast, which is ..coomphsPefi in about a quarter of an hour, ci' breakfast the townspeople hold a sort

of municipal palaver, until it is time to shoot again for dinner. They then 101 lal until the calls of hunger start them once more into activity, and more pigeons are procured for supper, after which, I suppose, they all retire to rest, overcome With the exertion of the day. Sometimes bread is obtainable, but the usual food of the settlers is a sort of stew made of pigeons and vegetables. I could not procure a bit of fish for love or money, for although the sea teems with millions, very few seems to be caught. Abuse of the Provincial Government appears to be the chief occupation of the settlers, who complain loudly of neglect, that paternal body not sufficiently often sending them provisions. Complaints of starvation are of course rife during the intervals between these, supplies, which, I learnt, were almost gratuitous. The last time the Provincial Government sent provisions, some few paid cash, while others only gave 1.0.U.'5, and they are now selling the flour to the diggers at Big Bay at 245. per lOOlbs. for cash clown. Another stock of provisions is anxiously looked for to keep these poor unfortunate people from starving.