Country News

Southern Cross, Volume 1, Issue 43, 20 January 1894, Page 5

Country News

COLAC BAY. Tliis place, writes a correspondent, is beginning to look up. This is largely due to the New Zealand Pine Company, who recently obtained the right to construct a jetty here from which to despatch timber from their sawmills. The approaches will be a quarter of a mile in length, with a T 125 ft. long, with a width of 25ft. Iron rails will be laid down, so that a locomotive can be run right down to the end of the wharf. Mr Sharp. C.E., prepared the plans and specifications, and Mr Bain, of Dunedin, is the contractor for the work, with Mr F. Gr. Stone, of Invercargill, as inspector. Operations arc now in full swing, and ere long vessels will be laid on to take awaj the pick of our forests. The attractions of Colac Bay as a holiday resort have been strangely overlooked. It is one of the prettiest places on the coast, and one of the very few at which specimens of the Maori race can be seen in everyday life. Just now things arc very quiet with them —a little fishing and a little gai - dcning serving to pass the time. Colac Bay would be a capital place for settlement were it not for the fact that the natives hold a good deal of the best land; but I suppose we mustn’t grudge this to the original owners of the soil. People whojjoome this way on recreation bent can now enjoy first-class accommodation, Mr Newton, our postmaster, tclephmist, etc., being in possession of a very comfortable hostelry, run on lines which should commend it to all who appreciate comfort when on a holiday. A lot of places of interest, including the Chinese settlement at Round II ill, can be easily reached from Colac Bay, and to those who may be sceptical as to our ability to afford enjoyment to pleasure-seekers, I would simply say—“ Come and sec.”