From Wellington to Auckland on Foot.

Te Aroha News, Volume V, Issue 229, 19 November 1887, Page 2

From Wellington to Auckland on Foot.

About a month ago I was in "Wellington out of work, and in a penniless condition. 2sTob caring to exist any longer (v by borrow Ing small change from acquaintance-?, v I made up my mind to walk to Auckland. Friends to help or advise me 1 had none. As foY the sunshino friends, -who will favour one with a smile so long as one dresses fairly and keeps out of the hands of the police, I generally feel incommoded by their style of reminding one of their financial superiority. I did not look forward to such a journey as a walking tour, because. I knew by bitter expeiience how hard it is to be forced to ask for food or shelter, even when one is ready to tacklo any kind of work, at the lowest wages, and for perhaps the lowest soi b of masher. I knew well that some people would delightedly ?ay, '' lie had to beg his way from Wellington ' to Auckland." However, I thought it was better to strike for the "Sunny Ncntir* than to slave in Wellington. Besides, although I did not intend to go out of my course after work, thcio was a possibility of obtaining employment by the way. I had no swa™ to cat ry,not even a rug, the most necessary pait ot a wallabi'b outfit. The only thing T carried bulky enough Lo be described a? inip-dimcnia was a copy of •the Criminal Code Bill, which the- House of Representatives very properly refused to ru?h through iti 1886 at the instance of the Minister of Justice. It was the only available chattel I possessed, and h.-vwng "been brought up to the law, I took it with me to read at night, or while taking a spell on the road. I possessed a suit of siorc clothes in fair order. Being the only one 1 had, I wore it.- I looked dubiously at my boot-, for they were becoming iniirm. I feared they would npt stand the severe strain of a long journey, in bad weather -and on worse roads. Having thoioughly made up my mind to start, I lit my "Cherry" and started one Monday afternoon. It had been raining heavily in the morning, and I waited until the rain had subsided into a gentle cooling Scotch mist. I had not proceeded moie than a mile before the rain pouted down heauly and the wind blew with such violence that I akis soon wet to the skin. Rather i bad start and enough to damp one's sjiitit-i, ab well as clothing. I slushed along until I leached the Lower SCutt, where I unsuccessfully endeavoured to get "a shake down.' At the i'u->L hotel at which I called I was met with a curtnegathe — not by any mcano a pKj^ont thing to fall in with. Afc the next (he landloid, after infoiming me that he was fall up, abstractedly stirred up the ooata of a nice fiie. Somewhat chagiined, foi it is not a pleasant thing to tramp along in the dark, weary, hunejiy, and wet tluouuh, I again faced the wind, rain and darUne^. After proceeding about 4 miles further 1 reached an hotelkept bya humanitauan,and got a shakedown with blankets, in which I snoozed very comfoiably till morning. The rain and wind ceased befoio dawn and the morning was waun and the sky clear, save where a few whitc-gicy clouds vested as if to show its blueness Having va-bed, I started on the road again. 1 hail not proceeded it\\- befoiel came to the couclneion that nolms voleni I must seek

Charitable Aid and obtain something 1 to eat. I had eatesi nothing since the previous morning, and being accustomed to and being a thorough believer in the religion which prescribes three square mea's at the lea->t per diem. I considered that it would be suicidal folly on my paifc wei c I to sCar\ c on the road. The etiquette, if I may so term, it of the Wallabi Tiack i^ of couise to rundown as much as possible, for the request for a shakedow n implies that you are penniless and in want of fond. When inquiring for a shakedown few " wallabis I '— l don't like the term swagger: it seems like the woul tramp to have a grand ring about it — v>ill ask for food, "When a peivon of any decency gives a man permission to shelter himself cm his premises, the shallow nee generally gets r-omothing to eat without being put to the lmtni! i.ition of asking for it. 'Were a man wfrh a on his buck to say, " (.'an you give me a -hakedown tonight and something to eat ?" he would he frequently answered, "You might as well older your tea, bei. and breakfast." It 13 after all a quesfo 1 of natuial hospitality, but I know that the most painful thing to those who walk in seauh of work is, the daily ne3e&sity of asking for something to eat. There are, of course, fome " old hands " who show no sign of embaiTas.swent, e\en when they are reminded that they are receiving charitable aid. But the majority of men who travel haul up invariably feel backward in asking for food, and this backwardness does not \\ ear off easily. What an ea.sy thing it seems to say, "Can you spare me something to eat ?" Yes, it is easy enough to utter the words, but is not so easy to crush the thought they give lise to. It docs noO matter how kindly the penniless seeker after work may be treated, nor whether his poverty has been caused by no fault of his own— he gentrally feels bad or rather galled and humiliated. But after he has discussed a meal and gone on his way his spirits will rise and keep up until he gets hungry again. Fortunately, food Is plentiful in this country. In some places and in some families it may be scarce enough, but there is always enough food stored and bonded in warehouses and shops, or depasturing or growing in the country, to feed perhaps six times the number of people in it. That farmers and runholders give more relief than the inhabitants of the towns is a well-known fact. Station owner q look upon the feeding" and sheltering of waHabis as a kind of ta^f they pay for the right of tilling the ground or running stock upon it, and, to their credit be it said, most of them do give freely and gracefully. After all it does not come hard upon a big squatter or farmer in comfortable circumstances to feed a few wallabis per week. If it were not for the relief given in this way to men seeking employment up country, the gaols would not, in times of distress, hold all the poor devils who would be forced to steal in order to live. I heard a Minister of the State saying in Parliament last year, "that the man who had not enough to pay for a week's food was a poor specimen of a working man. " The statement was made by a politician who is fond of talking about the power of sympathy, and of laying off in an "I am what I am" kind of style of autocratic indiilerence about what he calls the " weeds of the community." The same individual brags occasionally about having lived upon 5s a day ; but he forgets that when living upon that sum he was learning ] or preparing for a profession, and that j he had, u >mething to look forward to. How many people are' there in this country who Kve»and support others upon 5s a day or try to do so upon less than that -sum, and say nothing about it, although thBy have scarcely anything better to look forward to or hope for. If every person

who is asked by theWgry ip >bi| cdi^br^ foi;footl were to reply ,wwu af^ not a'deeent)* working man or els.6 you could pay for a week's tucker," the colony would coon be reeking with crime.

Self Preservation is the first law of nature, and I did nofc starve. At the first place I asked, the man remarked, " You're nofc allowed to do that, you know," but the other and better half of-jjim said, " I'll give you something," and she] gave me food, and I did eafc. Knowing that there is nothing' like taking things coolly, I cut a walking stick and placed a {lower in my '"coat, and slid „ along at the rate of 3 miles an .Lour. 'I reached Featherston on the evening of the second day, and again was fortunate enough to obtain civility, blankets and a shakedown. At Grey town I earned 2s 6d by engrossing a deed for a solicitor, and as it was too early for dinner 1 oulcred a tankaul of beer and drank "a service to my bonniw lasiio '' — the only one, and left cv von'*, for Master ton. After lunching upon pome biscuits and apples, I called in afc the nearest Hotel to Masterton, and ordered sume further lcfreshment which way gracefully supplied by an admirable specimen of the Had. Thiswasthe proprietor. His accent, although not; broad, unmistakably betrayed his Highland origin. After di-cu&sing tho terrible expense of Government in this country and tho number of guineas earned by the canny fossils who peich on Education and Waste Land Board-., Ito>k a spell by a blazing fiie. It \v;is just as woll that I stopped, as it came on to nun vciy hea\ily. That night I reached an establishment a few miles from ilasteiton. Here I was most hospitably entertained by the man in chaige. lie had been the world and was a most genial fellow. Afcer a substantial tui we sat down before a roaring lire and spun yarns placed cribbago, smoked, played the concertina, chewed and spat after time -honouicd custom of bachcloulom. Next morning I pas&od along through Mastcrton, a Luge township. Here I expended my'last sixpence in biscuits and apple;-. I will not \\ oary my renders by attemptI ing to dv^mbo" the coanhy through which I passed, I stuck to the main load, and as it is a well beaten track abler oens than mine have described v, hat sconci yi* \\ ovth looking at. I reached Eketahuna about midday. The weather was most unsuitcd for pede&tiumism. The roads, weic sliushy and the snow began to fall. Without an} oveicoas or macintosh, it wa-s anything hut rgv* cable. If J. A. Fronde or'u.A.Sulo. were to tramp through the counti y without f-wag or money, they might ceitainly ha\c gained more knowledge of t, but I doubt whether they would takeso much plea^uie in recording their nnprcsbions, "The Lind of the Golden Fleece " quotha. \\ he.i I thought of the avaiiciousnoss of Ministers as lvgauls salaiies and expenses, the l -ele^^n£s, and expenses of the Legislntho Council, the We^r. Coa-,t Middle Island Railway, and t\\c ditliculties with which North Island settlers have cont'Mided as compared with the South, this. North Island api>eaicd to me to be fittingly labelled as "'The Land of the Shorn Lamb/

(To he Contln tu 7 .)