CHAPTER IV: ARCADIAN.
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CHAPTER IV.
AS companionship was preferable to lonely brooding, I joined labour with a young man with whom I had been on friendly terms on board ship, and in the endeavour to improve the present, as far as possible to ignore the past.
It was midsummer, and the weather extremely hot, and as the road work lay at some distance, it was our custom to begin it very early in the morning, carrying a kettle and the materials for breakfast with us, and having that meal on the spot after two or three hour's work--and completing the portion we allotted for the day, in time to return to a one o'clock dinner.
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The remainder of the day was generally devoted to work on the land, but at this time I was busily employed in the erection of a house of a temporary kind; but from an accident to a more ambitious structure, also in hand at this time, it had to do duty for nearly eighteen months.
The temporary one was of the V hut fashion, except that it was built upon piles six feet high instead of on the ground. Upon these posts a floor was laid and roofed, and therefore it resembled a small house with the walls unenclosed, and being situate in a thick bush, and well sheltered, this was of no great consequence. Some cross pieces nailed to the posts, and a small opening in the floor, gave access to a warm and snug sleeping apartment during the winter, but when summer came I found I had constructed an admirable mosquito trap, or else it was so highly appreciated that they made it their head-quarters, for when I ascended my rustic stairs at night, and entered the sleeping-room, it was like taking possession of a bee-hive. Day by day as summer advanced, fresh cohorts arrived to swell
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their ranks, and I was upon the point of leaving them in undisputed possession of the place, when a happy expedient of circumventing them suggested itself. It was neither more nor less than ensconcing my head in the pillow-case, and though an intrusive proboscis occasionally penetrated even that, upon the whole I was victorious, as their incessant buzzing did not prevent my sleeping. At a short distance in the open land, and upon a gentle rise, I began the erection of a clay house with walls one foot thick--the earth being firmly rammed between two stout mould boards, which were so arranged that they could be shifted as the work progressed. I was engaged upon this work at odd times for about three months, with occasional assistance for which I had to work in return, and had completed the walls, and laid the wall plates ready for receiving the roof, when one of those autumn storms of wind and rain, that frequently usher in the winter season, came on with unusual violence. The result was that the walls exposed to the driving rain, softened and fell one after the other, and being too late
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in the season to begin another of the same kind, I had to be contented with the hut first built.
It was a serious disappointment to find that I had been misinformed as to the rate of pay and the diminution to which I should have to submit in the future. Whereas on the Nelson side of the bay I received 18s. for twenty-four yards of ditching, at the Riwaka 10s. only was paid weekly for the same amount of work. I found upon seeking for an explanation of this disparity, and the inadequate wages for so much work, that I suffered in my individual position as a single man, unconnected with any family, from the adoption of a system that was intended to operate favourably for heads of families, that included among its members several sons who were allowed to take the piece work the same as their fathers, but at a lower rate of pay, namely, 10s. per week, while heads of families received the full amount.
I felt obliged to accept the position, and submit to what I could not help thinking was an injustice, as the only alternative was to
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return to Nelson, to which I had a very great objection.
The cost of living was also increased by the conveyance of all provisions across the bay, and with flour at 22s. 6d. per 100 lbs., it reduced my wages to about the same rate, if not below the level of the English agricultural labourer, which I had always heard cited as only a short remove from starvation point; but little as it was, I was grieved to lose it a few months later, when the work's expenditure entirely ceased.
I here wish to tender my humble tribute to the kindly interest taken by Mr. Fox, the Company's agent, in anything and everything likely to assist or improve the position of all the Company's employes who showed an earnest desire of rendering themselves independent of such assistance, by cultivating their land. He suggested to some of the heads of families in the valley the great advantage to be derived from the establishment of a store, by which we should be in a great measure independent of the precarious visits of the boat, and also, by purchasing
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wholesale, reduce the prices of articles of general consumption to some extent. He at the same time offering to advance an amount equal to two months' wages, as a capital to stock it, and for it to be managed upon the cooperative principle.
This generous offer was thankfully and gladly accepted; by combined labour a suitable weather-boarded building was quickly erected, and stocked with the staple articles of consumption. One who was considered the most suitable for the office was elected manager, and his allotment of road-work being equally distributed among us, so that he could continue to draw his usual wages, no cost for management was incurred, and by purchasing wholesale, and Mr. Fox having kindly arranged that the supplies should be sent across the bay in the Company's boat free of charge, an important saving to the consumer was the net result.
The store was of great benefit to all concerned, as besides lessening the cost of living, the vicissitudes to which the supplies bad often been subjected were in a great measure
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avoided, as very often the boat could not cross the bay when provisions were much needed, which necessarily caused considerable inconvenience to families whose means did not enable them to provide against contingencies of this nature.
Even after the establishment of the store there were occasions when the stock of flour, etc., became exhausted before fresh supplies could be received, but these were of much rarer occurrence than formerly. Upon one occasion of this kind, after a period of enforced fasting, when fresh supplies had come to hand, and every one was supplied with their usual quantity, --a member of a large family presented himself at the store for a second 200 lb. bag of flour, very shortly after having received the first. Bumble was not more surprised at the temerity of little Oliver asking for more, than was the storekeeper, and he could not help inquiring what had become of the first bag, when the lad replied, "Woy! we set up o' nights eating it, s'long as it lasted."
The starting of this store was a happy illustration of the amount of good that may be
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dispensed among a great number, by a large employer of labour having a generous forethought for what interests and concerns his employes, without necessarily entailing pecuniary considerations or assistance, and its frequent concomitants, loss of self-respect and independence.
I have previously referred to the aptitude displayed by the early settlers for all kinds of bush work, such as felling trees and sawing timber, if located near a bush, and as there were several fine patches of bush in the valley at the time of its being first settled, no time was lost in turning the timber to account for house building, etc. One middle-aged man, head of a large family, who had probably never seen a pit saw before he came to New Zealand, had with his sons' assistance dug saw pits, and while his two eldest sons were sawing at one pit, as if they had been accustomed to the work for a number of years, the old man might have been seen at another pit, sawing away on the top of a huge log, with a younger son, aged about 14, in the pit, actually standing upon a stool to enable him to swing
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the long pit saw the necessary length of stroke.
I heard of one amateur pitman whose ignorance nearly resulted in a serious accident; the log while being sawn rests upon movable cross-pieces called transoms, and it is the duty of the man in the pit to give the signal to halt when it is necessary to shift the transom.
Upon the occasion referred to, the log being large, the top-sawyer could not tell exactly when to stop, but was momentarily expecting the signal to do so from his mate in the pit; at last he inquired if he had not reached the transom. "Yes!" replied his mate, "and nearly through it;" it may be guessed it did not take that man many seconds to descend from his perilous position, and thrust a spare transom beneath the log.
The management of the store continued in the same hands, and gave general satisfaction, until the end of the second quarter, when the balance-sheet submitted by the storekeeper showed a deficiency of about twenty pounds, for which he could not account; he asked my
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help to go with him through all the items, and check the extensions, etc., which I did, and still the mysterious deficiency remained unexplained. A public meeting was called, and some present in very plain terms impugned the honesty of the storekeeper.
A resolution was passed removing him from his office, and demanding the surrender of the books; but smarting under the undeserved suspicions, and conscious that some error remained undetected, which the resigning of the books at that time would deprive him of all chance of discovering, he resolutely refused to give them up at that stage of the proceedings, unless to some one they might appoint competent to examine them. Another resolution was passed appointing a deputation to go to Nelson, and inform Mr. Fox of the whole of the particulars, and of the storekeeper's refusal to surrender the books.
I and another were the only dissentients, feeling sure that some satisfactory explanation would be found before long, and we sympathised with him for the hasty and unjust aspersions east upon him.
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Late that evening he informed me it was the intention of the deputation to start next day by boat for Nelson, and that he had determined to start very early in the morning to walk to Nelson, carrying the books, and if possible to deliver them to Mr. Fox, before the arrival of the deputation, which he thought was quite feasible, as the boat being at the end of the road, it could not get away before noon at high water; so the deputation would not arrive in time to wait upon Mr. Fox before the following day.
As it was a long distance (about 40 miles) through only partially explored country, and several rivers to be crossed on the route, he asked me to accompany him on the journey, which I readily agreed to do.
It was July or mid-winter, and a journey overland at that time of the year, with the rivers above their ordinary level, and their extent and the nature of the country to be traversed then unknown, was no light undertaking, and would have been positively hazardous for one alone. About eighteen months before this, four of the residents made the
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journey in company in the summer time, and were four days doing it, and suffered great hardships from exposure and want of food. We felt quite confident of reaching Nelson the same evening. We started about 4 A. M., and as we walked over the crisp grass, the white hoar frost glistened in the bright moonlight; as the first half-hour's walk would bring us to the Motueka River, and an immediate plunge into that not being a very cheering process in the early morning, we resolved to make a detour to a deserted Maori pah, near the mouth of the river, where we knew there was an unfinished canoe on the stocks. It had been probably many years in the state we found it, its sides were fairly shaped, but in other respects it was little more than a log of wood, and we had serious misgivings about its answering our purpose; however, we resolved to try it. After an hour's great exertions, with the help of rollers and levers we at last succeeded in getting the ungainly thing into the water, when upon stepping into it, to our dismay and disappointment, it revolved like a barrel, and as this part of the river was wide
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and deep, and the current strong, we were obliged to abandon it, and reluctantly retrace our steps up the river and take the first apparently eligible ford; as having lost so much valuable time, we did not care to go as far as the known ford, at which the river was usually crossed. Fortunately my companion was a few inches taller than myself, and by holding his hand, the passage was safely effected, but at one part, where the water reached my waistcoat pockets, I felt so extremely buoyant in the swift current that I durst not raise my feet, but was obliged to shuffle along or I should certainly have lost my footing, which would have probably resulted in the discomfiture of us both. After taking off our wet clothes, and effecting a mutual wringing out of the surplus water, we resumed our damp attire and the journey. We had travelled about eight miles when another river crossed our route, but this was small compared to the previous one, and the only inconvenience was a fresh wetting, just as we were getting comfortably dry.
Shortly after crossing this river, and coming
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upon a thick bush, we were beguiled into taking a surveyor's line that appeared to lead through it, instead of ascending a range of hills that here ran almost parallel with the bush, and by which we should have saved a great deal of time, and avoided much fatigue and difficulty. The line we had chosen was the surveyor's base line through the Moutere valley bush, and base enough we found it: the bush was so dense and thick, with supplejack and undergrowth of all kinds, that we could not deviate to either side of the line, and a winding river running through it, that was no sooner crossed with difficulty in one place, than it presented itself unexpectedly again in another short distance, and this occurred so often that we became quite bewildered as to which side of it was our proper one. This river was not more than five or six yards in width, but deep and sluggish, with a great quantity of timber in it, and we effected one crossing by climbing a tree that had been splintered off about fifteen feet from the ground, and descending the broken part, which remained attached to the trunk and
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extended across the river at an angle of about 45 degrees.
Appearances began to indicate that we were nearing the boundary of the bush. We were just congratulating ourselves upon having overcome all the difficulties of this route, when we found ourselves hemmed in by a bull-rush swamp.
It deepened as we advanced, so we deemed it prudent to climb a tree to reconnoitre. We found it to be of considerable extent, the centre part being clear of rushes indicated deep water, and as unfortunately neither of us could swim, we were obliged to wend our weary way back again for some distance to where we had noticed a steep hill abutting close to the bush, to ascend the hill, and descend again into the valley beyond the limits of the swamp.
In this valley, or rather crescent-shaped block of open land, almost surrounded by bush, a range of hills forming the chord of the arc, a number of Germans had settled. On the side of the hill as we descended, we passed close by the frame of a building ap-
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parently intended for a church, but it continued in the same unfinished state for several years, when it was either taken or blown down.
The Germans had arrived the previous year in the St. Pauli; some of them were winegrowers, and they entertained the delusion that in this sheltered spot vines could be cultivated with the same success as in the South of France; but a very brief experience sufficed to correct this mistake, and after a few years, only a few still lingered in the neighbourhood, doing a little farming, but now there is quite a thriving village a short distance from the spot, with its school and church, and road-side inn, kept by one of the original Germans, and where the Royal Mail Coach stops an hour for passengers and horses to refresh, it being about midway between Nelson and Motueka.
After crossing this open land, and passing through another portion of the same bush, but skirting the hills, evening began to close in, so we thought it advisable to seek temporary rest and shelter in one of the huts near at
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hand, until the moon rose, when we proposed continuing our journey as the remainder of the route appeared to be open country.
We had only provided sufficient food for one meal when starting, supposing Nelson would be reached the same evening, and as this had been disposed of about mid-day, we were quite prepared to do justice to a good supper, had it been in the power of our entertainer to have provided such a luxury. Unfortunately he had nothing but a few cobs of Indian corn and some very small potatoes on the premises; we accepted a place by the fire and a cob of corn, and amused ourselves during the evening in munching the very hard fare.
The hut was built of young birch-trees about six inches in diameter; it might be called a log-house, with the logs ranged vertically, and being let into the ground about a couple of feet, gave stability to the structure. The space inside was about 8 feet by 12, with a thatched roof; and at one end a fireplace formed with logs the same as the sides, but not so high, and lined inside with clay.
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Its usual occupants appeared to be the one we first accosted, a man about 40, and four strapping youths, his sons I supposed, and they were employed forming a road through a portion of the bush. In the course of the evening they, one by one, stretched themselves upon the hard clay floor, and soon gave oracular demonstration of the truth of Shakespeare's words, that
"Labour can snore upon the rock."
I am not quite sure of the correctness of the quotation, but I do know the nasal chorus effectually relieved us from all apprehension of ourselves falling asleep, which from very weariness we might otherwise have done, and thereby missed the opportunity of resuming our journey so soon as the moon should light our route, which would not be until two or three o'clock in the morning, and for whose coming light we frequently cast anxious glances up the chimney, or, perhaps more correctly, out of the fireplace.
I had been rather surprised at the absence of all sleeping arrangements, as in the roughest
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colonial whare there is generally one or more places fitted up called bunks, and supposed they had another building to which they retired to sleep.
This primitive style of lying down in their clothes was evidently not due to the presence of strangers, as there being no vestige of blankets or bedding, favoured the supposition that this was their ordinary method of taking their night's rest.
At last we could distinguish the moon's silver light above the glare of the roaring fire we had been instructed to keep up, but legs and arms were so inextricably mingled on the floor that exit by the door seemed next to impossible without treading upon, or disturbing one or more of the sleepers; so finding escape by the chimney practicable, we were soon once more on the road, and as there was a well-defined track and open country over the range of hills to the Waimea plain there was no fear of our mistaking the road. Just at daylight we were descending the hills into the Waimea Plain, the winding course of the Wairoa River, distant about two miles, clearly defined by a
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line of white mist, its wintry veil, which was being slowly stirred into fantastic shapes by the gentle morning breeze. We were prosaic enough to think that a boat or a bridge, by which we should have been saved the necessity of wading through the river, would have been a more charming sight than any amount of picturesque scenery that cold morning.
I glanced at my companion and noticed that his whiskers were white with rime; I instinctively felt my own, and found them quite crisp with the frost. I suggested the advantage of taking off our socks before wading the river, as it would be so comfortable to have them dry to walk in afterwards, but on attempting to unlace my boots for this purpose, I found my fingers quite powerless from the cold, although I was not sensible of any sensation of coldness in them; my companion was in the same predicament, so we were obliged to let them remain.
We reached Kite's hostelry at Richmond about nine o'clock, and as we had not broken our fast since noon of the preceding day, and had undergone a considerable amount of wear
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and tear in the interval, we were tolerably hungry, and watched with some interest and impatience the preparations for breakfast.
Mrs. K. with true womanly instinct divined our condition and thoughts, and asked us if we would like a snack to begin with, while the chops were frying, to which we cordially assented, and a pork pie, made in an oval pie-dish, the long diameter of which was about ten inches, was set before us, the complete consumption of which was so nicely timed that the last particle of it had just disappeared as the chops were served up, upon which we then proceeded to make an ordinary breakfast. We arrived in Nelson about mid-day, and found the Riwaka boat had only preceded us by an hour; the deputation had waited upon Mr. Fox and reported the state of affairs and the refusal of the storekeeper to give up the books, when that much-abused individual appeared on the scene, to the great astonishment of the deputation, as our departure had been kept secret. He delivered up the books to Mr. Fox, with the request that he would be pleased to allow the Company's accountant
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to examine them, which he very graciously agreed should be done.
The error, or rather omission, was accidentally discovered in the course of the day, by the Company's storekeeper casually remarking that a certain Nelson merchant from whom the supplies had been chiefly received, had not only charged his ordinary prices for stores, but added 5 per cent, commission for purchasing the goods, at the same time supplying them chiefly from his own store. This was the missing link, credit had not been taken in the balance-sheet for this commission, which had been paid, and for the period under review exactly covered the amount deficient.
Explanations immediately followed, Mr. Fox was perfectly satisfied, but I cannot say the deputation were, although obliged to accept the agent's decision in the matter. It appeared to have been a foregone conclusion in their minds, that all was not as it should be, and having made grave charges, they could not conceive of their being susceptible of such a simple solution; and from their report re-
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suiting in a confirmation of the previous dismissal of the storekeeper, it was evident they continued under their former impression, and they believed that Mr. Fox, with characteristic generosity, had intervened to screen him.
I was so annoyed with this result that I withdrew my name from the list of members, thereby forfeiting my share and interest in the concern.
The storekeeper above referred to is now, and has been many years, an accountant in one of the departments of the General Government. The following year, having to make the same journey just described, having visited Nelson, and missed my passage by the return boat, I did it easily in twelve hours, but took the precaution of keeping on the range of hills between the Waimea and Moutere plains, carefully avoiding the wooded valley; but some years later, when a coach-road was opened through it, thereby lessening the distance some few miles, I have frequently walked it in less time and with less fatigue.
Two months after the store affair, or the beginning of September, 1844, news arrived
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of the suspension of the New Zealand Company's operations, and there was a consequent sudden stoppage of the road expenditure.
I was very ill prepared for this; small as the weekly pittance had been for the amount of work done for it, it was only with the utmost economy I had made it suffice for ordinary wants, and so far I had only succeeded in saving a shilling or two each month, which was immediately invested in seed potatoes. I considered myself fortunate in having on hand five large kits, about four cwt., at this time.
I heard there was in the store at the time of the works being stopped, about £150 worth of stock; while there was a debt due to the Company's agent of about £90. When Mr. Fox was communicated with in reference to discharging this debt, he generously waived it in favour of the residents in the valley.
I wish I could report that the Committee of Management were equally generous, for we were all sufferers in common from the stoppage of the works. Although I had voluntarily forfeited my share of the profits, which I had
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assisted to make, and my interest in the building I had assisted to erect, the ex-storekeeper and myself were also excluded from all participation in the generous gift of the agent, in the general division that took place of the store and its contents.
The piece of land I was preparing for cropping with potatoes was bush-land that had been cleared and planted by the Maories; it had been a fine piece of bush which Mr. Tuckett had granted them permission to clear and plant for one crop only, it being one of the Company's fifty-acre sections.
The part referred to was covered with fallen trees, and partly burnt logs, and had been planted in their usual style, namely, by simply forcing a pointed stick into the soil at an acute angle, loosening the ground slightly by a downward leverage, and inserting the seed. By cross-cutting the logs and rolling them together in heaps, and systematically grubbing the whole of the service, and taking out all but the largest roots, I was sanguine of obtaining a good crop of potatoes the ensuing season, and in this I was not disappointed. I had
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previously cleared and sown a half acre of wheat on part of the same land, and its luxuriant growth promised a satisfactory solution of the food supply question after harvest, but there were four months intervening that I had to tide over as I best could.
My immediate wants were fortunately provided by my daily work; it had been impossible for the Maories to extract all the potatoes from among the matted roots, and in going over every inch of the ground with an adze, I obtained each day sufficient for its consumption.
I was thus occupied the whole of September and October, and judging that there was enough land prepared for the quantity of seed I possessed, and finding that an almost exclusive potato diet was not very sustaining if continued too long, even when stimulated occasionally by a little wild pork, I resolved to take an opportunity that presented itself of earning a bag of flour, as there was a month or six weeks to spare before potato planting commenced.
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A gentleman, who owned a large portion of the upper part of the valley, was desirous of having a wooded knoll cleared of the bush, and the land grubbed and prepared for laying down in English grass, as it had a fine commanding position for a residence.
