Page:Tales-of-Banks-Peninsula Jacobson 2ed 1893 cropped.pdf/252

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Little River.
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valuable for dairying purposes, and for pasturing sheep and cattle. The settlers now have a road as good as any on the Peninsula, and the difficult labour of shipping from the bay is done away with, as they can easily cart their produce to Wainui. It was to Mr. McPhail’s house the survivor of the Clyde came, that being the nearest to the scene of the catastrophe.

The view from Mt. Bossu is a grand one—on one side the harbour, on the other the bight, across which are seen the snow-clad Alps, and, terminating the coast, the waters of Ellesmere. There are many picturesque spots in the bay, and the bracing winds from the open ocean make it a healthy place. There is a waterfall close to Island Bay two hundred feet high, which is a grand sight.


No. 10—Little River.

Little River was one of the latest settled portions of the Peninsula, although it is one of the most important places now. It is the outlet from the harbour to the Plains, and all of the Bay roads converge towards it. The settlement, consisting as it does of large valleys and fertile flats, well watered, was, it is not difficult to perceive even now, covered in dense bush. Since the mills have been at work, it has been a lively go-ahead place. There is still a large quantity of timber to be cut, but year by year the bush is disappearing. When it is gone, the chief export from the place ceasing, Little River will have to depend on its grazing and its cocks-footing; and as there is such a large area suitable for dairying purposes, the export of cheese from the Peninsula will be largely increased when the bush land is cut up into dairy farms.