MASON BAY

Southland Times, Issue 620, 18 January 1867, Page 7

MASON BAY

Is more an open roadstead than a harbor, though at its southern extremity there is tolerable anchorage. A heavy sea rolls in on the greater part of the sandy beach — some five miles in length — fronting a belt of low flat land lying between the hills and the sea. ' The local consumption of agricultural product in all young settlements is not great, and the demand easily satisfied, the majority of the, population being occupied in producing the same staple.' To pay the agriculturist he must export, and on the main he is met with the usual difficulty — defective internal communication. The settler at Stewart Island will be in a very advantageous position in this respect : he has Nature's highway — the sea. He can boat his produce across to the Bluff, and ship it on board a steamer for Australia or the West Coast j or sell it to a merchant, delivering it as above. He will thus- be enabled to sell it at a moderate price, and will consequently find a ready market. Shipbuilding is an industry which could be conducted with great succesß on the Island, some of the bays in which are peculiarly adapted for the purpose. The numerous sheltered coves in Paterson Inlet and. Port Pegasus furnish a hundred dock-yards from which vessels of size could easily be launched, while the raw material abounds, and is of the best qualify. I saw a vessel of 180 tons being built, every rib of which was formed out of the natural curve of the rata tree, the strongest and toughest wood for the purpose. 'I was also given to understand that there were one or two natural dry docks.