Reception of Sir George Grey

Evening Star, Issue 19782, 4 February 1928, Page 14

Reception of Sir George Grey

Ihe Orbell Diary goes on to record the writer’s election to bo first Mayor of Hawkesbury and election to the Proyincial _ Council as representative for Waikouaiti. 1 “ I never aspired to public life,” he explains, “ but one thing led to another; and before I knew where I was I. found myself in the thick of it.” At Mr Julius Vogel’s request he became a member of Ins Ministry when that came into office. The journal continues:—

I became heartily tired of the incessant rubbish that was talked; member after member, without any point in their remarks, the majority talking purely to show their self esteem and to let their constituents know they were present, and last, but not least, "to see a report of their speeches In the newspapers. I was always glad when Friday night came, because I always returned home by the coach on Saturday morning and back to my post on Monday. Not long after I became a member of the Executive Sir George Grey, then Governor of the colony, visited Otago. He arrived in H.M.S, Brisk, 12 guns. Three members of the Government went to Port Chalmers to receive him; I was one of the number. We went on board, during which time the sailors manned the yards, which, together with other incidents < that occurred, was very interesting. Of course, there was great enthusiasm displayed by the public. _ Sir George was very popular at the time. It was arranged that _ho should visit the goldfields, travelling by special coach and outriders, etc. As he was to pass through Waikouaiti, the residents requested' that he would stay a sufficient time to partake of luncheon, to which he consented. He was accompanied by his A.D.C. and a few other notables. Two coaches conveyed the party. Green arches arid streamers were erected across the street and other demonstrations made in honor of his visit. It was my duty, as mayor, to welcome him. This I did at the town boundary, his coach standing while I addressed him. After his reply I led the way in a carriage, followed by a number of vehicles, to the booth where the lunch was provided.

COLONEL KITCHENER

About this time I made the acquaintance of Colonel Kitchener, father of the present Lord Kitchener, now Com-mander-in-Chief in India. He had come to New Zealand to invest in land, and purchased the station that I have referred to as taken up by Charles Hopkinson, about ten miles from Palmerston, which at the time was considered the act of a madman on account of its distance from settlement. This was the property purchased by the colonel about fifteen years later for £20,000, including stock. As soon' as he obtained possession of the station he bought some 7,000 or 8,000 acres of the leasehold from the Government'.at £1 per acre" I mention. the fact ,to show how rapidly even at that date land'increased in value. The whole property consisted of 20,000 acres, and the lease had only four or five years to run when the colonel purchased. For several months after the transaction the colonel made Waikonaiti his headquarters, and lodged

That w© might have the station fully ’ stocked, we npw purchased another 3,000 ewes from Sir Dillon 8011, of Shag Valley, which, being driven to our run, were camped for one night only upon a reserve generally used by the public when travelling stock. It adjoined the Tuxnai property, then occupied by one of John Jones’s sons, who owned a small shed flock of Leicester sheep. Being short of feed, he grazed them upon the reserve during the day, driving them back to the paddock in the evening. About three weeks after the ewes referred to had been upon the run Edward came to see me, carrying a sheepskin upon his saddle. He was in a great state of excitement. I asked what the matter was, and be replied that he had again discovered scab, and proceeded to unfold the skin and show me the insect by the use of a magnifying glass that he had in his pocket. He also exhibited the brand upon the skin, which corresponded with the Tnmai brand, thus conclusively proving that it was one of Jones’s sheep. He said that he had also found two more in the flock of the same description and brand. It was very evident that Jones’s shepherd had left these three sheep upon the reserve when returning the others to the paddock, consequently they joined_ our 3,000. It was a most serious business for us. We had about 20,000 sheep upon the station, and it meant dipping them all three times. It was not so much the dipping as the mustering, because unless every sheep was brought to the yards and dipped there was the risk of non-eradication of the disease through any that might have escaped dipping. The Sheep Act compelled ns to give the inspector notice of what had occurred. He visited the run. A number of sheep were mustered for him to examine. The result was that he was satisfied scab existed, and declared the whole of the sheep infected. It was a great shock to us, especi-

MAKING A DIP AND MUSTERING

After well considering the question I decided to make a demand upon the owner of the three sheep that were the cause of the trouble for damages. [This matter was settled eventually by agreement.] I went on with the necessary preparations for making the dip, etc. We found it impossible to get the four tanks set in stone or brick before the first dipping, so had to place them side by side, raising them from the ground by placing stones at the corners of each sufficiently high to admit the firewood. The number of cords that it took to boil 1,600 gallons of water in this manner I cannot estimate.. Fortunately there was a hush within half a mile of the yards, from which we obtained it. Although there was plenty of timber, it was extremely difficult to get, as it was upon the steep side of a' hill. We cut down large trees, made a broad clearance or road, through which we rolled them down, then cut them into suitable lengths for splitting at the bottom. Two bullock drays were occupied several days in, conveying them to the yards. We estimated that it took six times as much wood to boil the tanks standing in the open, as it did when they were covered and surrounded by flues. This was done before the second dipping. They took ,twelve hours to boil, which had to be done during, the night to be ready for use the following morning. It took us over a. month, to get everything ready,, because, as before explained, we were totally- unprepared -

Early Otago Polities Lord Kitchener’s Father A Long Battle with Scab - V No. XII.

Never before or since has there been such, an assemblage in Beach street; the whole countryside came to see and hear what they could. About 200 sat down to lunch, Sir George upon my right and Major Richardson (Speaker of the Provincial Council) upon my loft. After proposing the toast of the Queen, 1 proposed that of His Excellency. If I may judge by the complimentary remarks that were subsequently made, I managed it better than I anticipated. I had been • appointed by the Government to accompany him on his tour, but circumstances prevented my doing so. At this time Sir George was one of the most popular men in New Zealand, and had been specially sent, a month or two before, from the Cape of Good Hope, where he was Governor, to quell the Maori War; this showed the estimation in which he was held by the Imperial Government. Before be finally left the colony, instead of being the most popular man, he was the most unpopular; I should, in justice, add except by the working classes, [Henry dissolves partnership with his brother, who enters into partnership with Mr J. R. Jones. In 1867 the author is defeated in an election for the Provincial Council. The diary continues; —]

Subsequent ovens proved to me that it was a good thing that I was net reelected, as my business required all the time and attention that I could give it. It took me some time to get all the sheep we wanted to fully stock up again. We bought several lots. The prices had fallen considerably during the last year. Sonnd-mouth merinos were selling at 12s each. Twelve months earlier Henry and I had_ given 28s each for the same description of sheep, and 20s each for 4,000 lambs (merino). The latter were sold the next day for 21s each. There were no cross-breds at this period, or very few; but from this date onwards occupiers of country suitable for this class of stock began to breed half-breeds, a cross between a merino and long-wool ram. They proved a most profitable sheep, both as regards wool and mutton.

in a house not far from where we lived. He was a great smoker, _ and I often spent an evening with him.- He was an old Indian officer. A few months later he went home to England and returned with his wife (the second one) and daughter, also his son, who subsequently managed the above property. The daughter married a Canterbury runholder (Harry Parker), and is now living near Kurow, on the Waitaki. _ Alter a while the colonel arid bis wife returned to England. Upoh one occasion, when I was staying jv few days with his son on his station, the mail brought him a letter fro|n his, brother, the present lord, wlST'et the; time was having honors Conferred upon him by the Queen in recognition of his services in Egypt. He reiharked in his letter that he would rather not receive the honors because they cost him more than he could afford. A few years later he received, a grant voted him by the' House of Commons for £IOO,OOO.

BATTLE WITH

ally as we had no conveniences for dipping so many, ho dip large enough, no tanks, and no suitable yards, i consulted my partner; he made light of it, and said that he would leave me to grapple with the difficulty. He knew that I would do my best. He was aware that it would be a very heavy expense. He remarked that his brother was to blame. He should have known that his sheep were infected, and should not have made use of the reserve or public camping ground for stock. Edward was greatly annoyed, because he contemplated leaving me and going to Fiji as soon as possible, besides which he knew from experience the worry and hard work it meant to muster and dip. We consulted over the position, and he generously consented to stay and help me through the work. This was a relief to me, aa he was such a hard worker and thoroughly understood the disease and how to treat it. It took us several weeks to get material carted and a dip made; four 400-gallon iron tanks had to be properly built in with masonry "And flues; an enormous quantity of firewood was required. I forget how many tons of tobacco and sulphur, also arsenic; certainly a considerable number. The_ extension of yards and many other things had to be arranged and completed before we could begin to dip. All the time the disease was spreading through the sheep, which - meant greater difficulty and loss. Until wo could obtain 11 om ti e ir sp<ctoi a clean certificate we could not move a sheep from the r( iii—that was until the flock was free from disease, probably from twelve to i eighteen months would elapse before he Would be satisfied, and a shearing i would intervene, at which he could make a thorough inspection and ex- ■ animation. The result of this was that we could not sell or drive a sheep off i the run until the certificate was granted under a heavy penalty. Under these circumstances it will be readily nnder- ■ stood what a serious loss it was.

or sixteen men, besides bullock drays, were employed, and no time was lost. The next work was to muster the sheep. It is difficult for the uninitiated to understand what this meant on such country. I may explain that there was scarcely a hill upon the whole 30,000 acres that was not known by some name. It may not be uninteresting to mention a few of them, which were as well known to every shepherd upon the run as his own name —Constitution Hill, Sisters, Three O’clock, Mount Misery, Blucher, Saddle Hill, Napier, Scratchback, The: Bole, Pole. Scrub, Blucber Peat Bogs, The Chimneys, Needles Eye, Newman’s, Horse Range, The Brothers, Lamb Hill,,Kilmog Range, The, Peak, Tommy’s Flat, etc., etc.

When the shepherds set out to muster in the morning, each one was directed to clear a certain part, indicated to him by the name of the hill or gully, and all would arrange to assemble at a point named, in a similar manner. Five or six men would be out, and after they had each mustered their respective country ’ as allotted, each keeping in touch with the other, they would after, a few hours make, for .the point of concentration as agreed upon s join the various lots of sheep, and drive them to the yards, clearing, say, 3,000 acres per day. Merino sheep are naturally wild and more easily mustered.than cross-breds. If the former hear a shout or a dog bark they'-will, as a rule, if grazing upoa-the Bid^ofc-arhflV'ihrniedl-

ately congregate and make for the top of the range. The latter take little notice ol sounds or noise, and will continue grazing, and-instead of making tor the top on their own account they will wait until the unfortunate shepherd goes into, the gully and clears every nook and corner and forces them to the top with his dogs. In the present muster it was most important that every gully should be carefully searched, because a stray sheep left in any of them might be infected and again spread the disease after those dipped were turned back upon the run. Every precaution had, to, be taken. When all were dipped a small portion of the country was again looked over, to be as sure as possible that no stray sheep had been left, the whole flock kept upon it, and the most reliable men appointed to shepherd and prevent them from straying back to their accustomed country. As a rule sheep will return to the locality and pasture upon which they have been in the habit of grazing. While this was being done all hands suitable for the work were sent to muster and search thoroughly every gully upon the whole run a second time; any odd sheep were destroyed where found—i.e., when there were not enough discovered to drive. It so happened that all this work had to be done in the winter months. It was very unfortunate, because not only wore the days short, but after putting the sheep through a warm dip they naturally felt the severe frosts and any rough weather. Wo had no option, as it was late in the autumn that the disease was discovered. No ono but he who has gone through the ordeal of cleaning an infected flock of sheep has any idea of the labor—not only the labor, but anxiety—attached to it. The dip was about two miles from the homestead, and in returning to our work in tho early morning the smell of tobacco and sulphur for the whole distance to the dip was enough to poison one, especially upon a frosty morning. So thoroughly sick were we of the odor that I wonder one of us ever smoked a pipe afterwards. In the course of a few weeks we completed dipping three times, and awaited with keen anxiety the result. The inspector came frequently to inspect the sheep, and we dreaded even tho possibility of his discovering a fresh outbreak. Time went on, and, although he could not give us a clear certificate under the Sheep Act for twelve months, ■without which we could not move a sheep off the run, ho consoled us by expressing the opinion that we had done our work well, and that the disease was cured. After we had completed our task, Henry and Miller’s flock were declared scabby, also Gellibrand’s, and M'Gregor’s, whose runs all adjoined ours; but there was no evidence of any kind to show that qur flock had communicated it to theirs. There was a strong suspicion that M'Gregor, having recently purchased some imported sheep, had introduced the disease through them, as there appeared to be a doubt as to their being infected when landed. The question was never satisfactorily accounted for. When the season for lambing and shearing came round we found that, consequent upon the wool being impregnated with tobacco and sulphur, and the low condition of the ewes at lambing, a great number were not strong enough to rear a lamb, _and._ of course, they did not clip anything like the weight of wool they would have done had they hen kept in their normal condition. (End of Extracts from Journal.)