MR. HOLLOWAY ON SPECIMEN COLONISTS.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 4226, 6 October 1874, Page 3

MR. HOLLOWAY ON SPECIMEN COLONISTS.

In a letter which is published in the Laborers' Union Chronicle, of July 13th, Mr. Holloway describes a portion of hia travels in the Province of Canterbury, and quotes the following illustrations of what may be done by industry and economy in the Colony:—- " I was much pleased with what I saw, and the information I obtained. The first party we purposed visiting, were two brothers named Chalmers. I think I have elsewhere alluded to the practice of some of the shearers, who, when the season was over, drew their wages—a £SO or £OO cheque, and taking it to the nearest

public house, hand it over to the landlord, saying : ' Just let me know when that's melted,' and not many days would elapse before the cheque had disappeared. And in some instances the poor dissipated individual had to 'sub' a few shillings off the landlord to help him on the road. The brothers Chalmers were not of this class. They, too, were shearers, but when the sheepshearing season was over, and the harvest w*s gathered in, these brothers went to the Land Agency Office, and invested their savings in purchasing a piece of land. This scheme they practised for several years, attending to their shearing and harvesting in the summer, draining and fencing in the winter, and every season investing their savings in purchasing land. And what was the result ? "Why, that to-day they are farming a fine freehold farm of 700 acres of land, and have left off working for other people, and have become employers of labor themselves. Here is another instance of success. Almost adjoining the Chalmers' land, I came across a Mr. Joseph Hunt, formerly of Great Rollright, in my own county of Oxfordshire. He told me that he was working in that village for Bs. a week—house rent to pay and a wife and three children to support out of that. He had heard of New Zealand, and Joe thought within himself that he couln't worse his position by removing to another locality. He talked the matter over with his wife, and the result was he made up his mind to emigrate to New Zealand. In the year 1856 he bade farewell to Old England, and after a long voyage, he landed safely in New Zealand, with 2Jd. in his pocket, with which he began life afresh in the Colony. He set to work in real good earnest, and being a sober, energetic and persevering man, determined to get on. He succeeded beyond his most sanguine expectations ; and to-day I had the of visiting him in his own freehold house, which ho has erected upon his own freehold farm of 210 acres. He has given his children a good education, and I thought within myself, as I sat with my friend at the tea-table, what would have been Joseph's prospects had he remained an agricultural laborer in Great Rollright, in England ? In all probability he would have been over head and ears in the baker's and grocer's debt, without any possibility of payingit ; with the Chipping Norton Union staring him hard in the face, and the px-ospect of being buried in a pauper's grave. This is only one or two cases which I have noted down in my diary of the marked success which has almost invariably followed the efforts of industrious, persevering men ; they are not solitary cases. Here is another case of individual effort being rewarded with success. On the morrow, after leaving Mr. Hunt, I called upon Mr. Church, a small farmer ; he is brother to Mrs. Taylor, our general secretary's wife. He was formerly a carman, in London, but not succeeding so well in life as he could wish, he emigrated to New Zealand a few years ago. On his arrival in the Colony, he did as every man should do who wishes to make his way out here ; that is, pitched into the first employment which presented itself, determined, in the first place, to get a knowledge of Colonial life and work' his way upwards, if possible. And what has been the result ? Why this, — when I visited him to-day he was owner and occupier of a very fine fertile farm, well fenced and watered, of 200 acres of land, and has succeeded in placing himself in very easy and comfortable circumstances. He, too, has in his turn become an employer of labour. I was very agreeably surprised to find that Joseph Smith, a young man who came out with me in the Mongol, from Chesterton, Oxfordshire, had been engaged by Mr. Church to work for him at £SO a year, with board and lodging—and my word they do live out here. Smith laboured at Home for 12s. or 14s. a week, and kept himself ; now he gets the above, and he assures me that he is very comfortable. I visited to-day, in company with Mi-. Saunders, Mr. J. Grigg's farm, at Long Beach Station, Canterbury Plains. Mr. Grigg has been in Canterbury Province since ISOS, and has now in his possession a magnificent estate of freehold land, of 27,000 acres, and the remains of a fun, making a total of 33,000 acres. Mr. Grigg is a first-class fanner; he employs from forty to fifty men. Average rate of wages—ploughmen, 255. per week and all found, with a bonus of £7 for harvest ; shepherds, lowest wages, £64 per year, and all found ; highest wages for shepherds, £7B and all found. Fencing by contract, average earnings from 10s. to 12s. per day ; draining about (he same per day as fencing. Carpenters on the station, 10s. per day and all found. Mr-. Grigg has in his employ an Irishman, who has been with him for the last seven years, and has saved several hundreds of pounds, and has now 200 acres of freehold land, which he purchased for £2 an acre. Now he says he could get £7 an acre for the greater part of it. Thomas Black, a Scotchman, has been in Mi-. Grigg's employ about the same time, and has saved about the same sum. He has been to-day to select a section of 300 acres of land, within two miles of his employer's house, for which he will have to pay down £2 per acre, the Government price in this Province for all land. The land here is perfectly level, no bush ; just plough it over twice and put in the seed, the average yield being about thirty bushels per acre. Mr. Grigg lias now in his employ a number of other men who have saved from £IOO to £SOO each.