Page:Reminiscences of Earliest Canterbury 1915.pdf/66

 and family, who came in 1843 to Akaroa; also Messrs. William Lucas and James Wright, who settled on the south of Akaroa Heads; also Mr. Malcolm McKinnon, who settled at Island Bay, and Mr. Alexander McIntosh, who settled at McIntosh Bay. All these families began with dairy farming, Wellington being the only market for cheese and butter.

When the Hay and Sinclair families landed in Pigeon Bay they found four carpenters in the bight known as Holmes Bay. They were building two schooners. As they had to cut all the timber by hand, the work did not progress rapidly. They began in 1843, and in 1845 the vessels were launched and taken to Wellington. As at this period I was only four years old, I can just remember the vessels before they were launched. On completion of the vessels the Sinclairs bought the hut the carpenters had built, and moved into it in 1845.

Education was a big problem for the pioneers. There was too much work to be done for the parents to find time for teaching. By the time teachers were procured many of the children were grown up, so that the classes at school were, for a time, mixed with reference to stature and age.