第41章 CHAPTER X(1)

Choice of a Run--Boundaries--Maoris--Wages--Servants--Drunkenness--Cooking--Wethers--Choice of Homestead--Watchfulness required--Burning the Country--Yards for Sheep--Ewes and Lambs--Lambing Season--Wool Sheds--Sheep Washing--Putting up a Hut--Gardens--Farewell.

In looking for a run,some distance must be traversed;the country near Christ Church is already stocked.The waste lands are,indeed,said to be wholly taken up throughout the colony,wherever they are capable of supporting sheep.It may,however,be a matter of some satisfaction to a new settler to examine this point for himself,and to consider what he requires in the probable event of having to purchase the goodwill of a run,with the improvements upon it,which can hardly be obtained under 150pounds per 1000acres.

A river boundary is most desirable;the point above or below the confluence of two rivers is still better,as there are then only two sides to guard.Stony ground must not be considered as an impediment;grass grows between the stones,and a dray can travel upon it.England must have been a most impracticable country to traverse before metalled roads were made.Here the surface is almost everywhere a compact mass of shingle;it is for the most part only near the sea that the shingle is covered with soil.Forest and swamp are much greater impediments to a journey than a far greater distance of hard ground would prove.Ariver such as the Cam or Ouse would be far more difficult to cross without bridges than the Rakaia or Rangitata,notwithstanding their volume and rapidity;the former are deep in mud,and rarely have convenient places at which to get in or out;while the latter abound in them,and have a stony bed on which the wheels of your dray make no impression.The stony ground will carry a sheep to each acre and a half or two acres.Such diseases as foot-rot are unknown,owing probably to the generally dry surface of the land.

There are few Maoris here;they inhabit the north island,and are only in small numbers,and degenerate in this,so may be passed over unnoticed.The only effectual policy in dealing with them is to show a bold front,and,at the same time,do them a good turn whenever you can be quite certain that your kindness will not be misunderstood as a symptom of fear.There are no wild animals that will molest your sheep.

In Australia they have to watch the flocks night and day because of the wild dogs.The yards,of course,are not proof against dogs,and the Australian shepherd's hut is built close against the yard;here this is unnecessary.

Having settled that you will take up your country or purchase the lease of it,you must consider next how to get a dray on to it.Horses are not to be thought of except for riding;you must buy a dray and bullocks.The rivers here are not navigable.

Wages are high.People do not leave England and go to live at the antipodes to work for the same wages which they had at home.They want to better themselves as well as you do,and,the supply being limited,they will ask and get from 1pound to 30s.a week besides their board and billet.

You must remember you will have a rough life at first;there will be a good deal of cold and exposure;a good deal of tent work;possibly a fever or two;to say nothing of the seeds of rheumatism which will give you something to meditate upon hereafter.

You and your men will have to be on rather a different footing from that on which you stood in England.There,if your servant were in any respect what you did not wish,you were certain of getting plenty of others to take his place.Here,if a man does not find you quite what he wishes,he is certain of getting plenty of others to employ him.In fact,he is at a premium,and soon finds this out.On really good men this produces no other effect than a demand for high wages.They will be respectful and civil,though there will be a slight but quite unobjectionable difference in their manner toward you.Bad men assume an air of defiance which renders their immediate dismissal a matter of necessity.When you have good men,however,you must recognise the different position in which you stand toward them as compared with that which subsisted at home.The fact is,they are more your equals and more independent of you,and,this being the case,you must treat them accordingly.I do not advise you for one moment to submit to disrespect;this would be a fatal error.A man whose conduct does not satisfy you must be sent about his business as certainly as in England;but when you have men who DO suit you,you must,besides paying them handsomely,expect them to treat you rather as an English yeoman would speak to the squire of his parish than as an English labourer would speak to him.The labour markets will not be so bad but that good men can be had,and as long as you put up with bad men it serves you right to be the loser by your weakness.

Some good hands are very improvident,and will for the most part spend their money in drinking,a very short time after they have earned it.

They will come back possibly with a DEAD HORSE TO WORK OFF--that is,a debt at the accommodation house--and will work hard for another year to have another drinking bout at the end of it.This is a thing fatally common here.Such men are often first-rate hands and thoroughly good fellows when away from drink;but,on the whole,saving men are perhaps the best.Commend yourself to a good screw for a shepherd;if he knows the value of money he knows the value of lambs,and if he has contracted the habit of being careful with his own money he will be apt to be so with yours also.But in justice to the improvident,it must be owned they are often admirable men save in the one point of sobriety.

Their political knowledge is absolutely nil,and,were the colony to give them political power,it might as well give gunpowder to children.

How many hands shall you want?