Sheep Shearing “Down Under."

Hokitika Guardian, 22 October 1921, Page 4

Sheep Shearing “Down Under."

(Hv an Australian Bushman;. The "ringer" ftlio fastest shearer) of an Australian shearing shed is a "•tar” jicrfnitner among a class ol wmkers whose glmy is their efficiency. He holds a union ticket, and would not work with anyone who did not. lie would pan in anger from his lies' pal and revile him as a "scab” il, by his actions, he nttcliipled to undermine the industrial unity ol his class. Rut though this unity and collective ell'oil is strictly enforced, individual ellieietirv is eneoiuaged to the utmost degree ill the slcariiig sheds. I lie shearer who puts up the highest •tally" fur the number of sheep shorn, from the coniniencenieot ol shearing to (he "culling out of the shed,” is venerated by Ills mates as a man worthy of I lie highest admiration. There is no grumbling at the pace he :cls. Instead, his skill and speed inspile- his mates of the shearing-hoard with a spii it ol einula 1 ion. The shouting season in New Smith Wales begins, in the north, about the beginning of May, and closes, in the south, about the end ol August. A "shed” usually lasts for ah.nit live or -i.\ weeks according to the number of sheep to lie shorn and the number of shearers engaged.

Tile sheep oil most large Australian sheep stations are shorn by contract ; I lie shearing company hiring all Hie labour engaged ill I lie process. Ihe squatter’s (landowner's) responsibility I,,.gins and ends iso lar as the shearing is concerned) with getting the sheep lo and from the shearing-pens; and. of course, paying up. Many of t.lio large sheds shear I ,<)<H> or more sheep a day, anil as many as 200.009 fleeces are shorn, classed, and pressed ready for transport ill live or six weeks. A "good”—that is. a quick shearer is always assured oi a season s wejpaid woik. That privilege he wills by individual oll'ort. As snon as one shed is "eIU-oUt” he goes oil to l fro next, iln lil Ihe end of the season, when lie hopes I, have earned a cheque "as lug as a blanket I"

Itefore IPlo the price for shearing was iMs |mm* huudied shei'p, a price agreed upon hv the Shearers* I uion as allowing a fair margin for wet days when sheep could not he shorn. The average “tally” is about lid sheep jmm" man per day ol eight hours, six da vs a week. Three hundred and twenty sheep is, I believe, the highest ‘tally" made by an Australian shearer in one day, and 1 have known one energetic sheepshearer to put up a record - I think still unbroken—of 210 sheep per day lot fortv-hve consecutive days. Put lie; of course, was n “hig-guit shearer, a “star-ringer.” .Moderately fast shearers calculate on dealing from L'loO to L‘2oo loi a season’s work : and many of t.hcm. ownin'’ blocks of land of their own, use the money thus earned lor its development at the season’s dose. Though shearing is classed as uns! died labour which the State Legislature insists shall he paid lor at not less than Os a day, the Australian sheater contends that if a man, alter a little practice, cannot earn, as a shearer, more than the Slate minimum wage, lie ought not to he “in the game.”