Wairarapa Daily Times. ESTABLISHED 1878] SATURDAY, JANUARY 27, 1894. A SHEARING ROMANCE.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XV, Issue 4631, 27 January 1894, Page 2

Wairarapa Daily Times. ESTABLISHED 1878] SATURDAY, JANUARY 27, 1894. A SHEARING ROMANCE.

Somewhat to our astonishment we find in the Oamam Mail the following report :-

A meeting of tho Executive Board of the .malganiatedShearers'andLaborcrs'Union m held in Waimate on Saturday evening, Ir Brown presiding, Mr J.F. Mercier, organiser of the Wairaapa district, who was present, gave in a eport of his work in that district, which ras considered very satisfactory, substantial ranohea having, been formed by him at lasterton, WoodviUc,_and Pahiatua. Mr leroier, in his statement, mentions that on ome of the stations in the North Island the .ccommodation beggars description for wretchedness, and generally the food is oi n inferior nature, although tho prices arc dghcr than in the South. During the earl; lart of the season several disputosoeourreo hrough the shearing of wet sheep, and hese were continued more or less through' lut the season, However, owing to thi iature of the year it was almost impossible o come across a thoroughly dry sheep, Thi ijggest djspute which ocourred was at Bow< inds Station, Wairarapa, but througl mother source. It appears that Mr Macltae he owner, had written, to neighbourin| quatters asking them to combine and reduo he price of shearing to 12s 6d per 100. Thi ithers refused. Wheroupon Maoßae wagoroi hat ho would get his sheep shorn for 2s 6i mder the usual price, Previous to starts he first trouble occurred through some of th aen being sent to sleep in [he stable, Bow ver, pn (he day of starting, when the agree nont was read, it was found (hat for outtin, , sheep 40 sheep would be docked off hearer's tally, and that the price would b s (id lowor, At this the men cleared. Late m a second crowd of local men were ol lined, but on hearing tho agreement rea hey also cleared. After a while anothe rowd wasobtaincd; but tho same diflicultie lose when the agreement was read out. A he time of leaving the district, a few day go, the sheep had 14 months' wool on thei nek, the biddy-bid had set in, which make he shearing of sheep more difficult, and h M trying to get through his shearing wit] ivo shearers instead of the usual 12 shearers it the beginning of last week there wer yer 18,000 sheep Jo bo'shorr),' Mr Mercie peaks'WJ Thrluhly of the menwho'hav iken up the movemonfM the North, M Ipgg, M.H.K., and others havetakctt a pro alnent part since its inception, and M logg has been rfepfed Chairman of th Jfasterton branoh ot the Unjpq, and wil aftend the nest Conference as delegate,

When the great Mercier was hefe wo Jiat) some reason to distrust his rose tinted ideas, but what eye we to, think- of him now that he has returned Ito bis confederal in the Middle T . '* Knowing wfiati w,e do ii I • nr '" ,f wa roisßion wo pan about hw Wan... ~, only regard Ins wonaenu. .._ emanation of a very powerful imagination, or tbalof a credulous person who has taken for gospel every station yam improvised for his benefit. We now give Mr Maoßae's side of the, Story wbiol) was published in our columns and doubtleSß road by, the marvellous Mercier himself, As yet we may say CO ono lias contradicted Mr MaoEae'B public statement in any shnpo or form, and knowing that be is a plain, straight-forward man, <n- , tirely devoid of the Mercier rhetorical and oratorioal gifts, wa take it for granted that it is a strictly accurate account. Mr Maoßae's letter as pjib lished ran as follows :

Sir,—Having read and heard a good deal lately regarding tho shearer's strike at 1 Bowlands, I thought it advisable to let the public know the exact position of tho cttao. To begin with, weeks ago fourteen shearers agreed with myself and my woolclasserto shear at Bowlands, work to commence on the 23rd November. A number .of them had shorn on tho station on previous seasons, and know tot for tho last ten years 17s fid' was the price »»jd for shearing on Bowlands. Somo of the nitu being, asked by myself what was to be, tho genejaj price this season, they : the sameAsjlast year, 17s Cd. I never thought anything j more of it, and trusted to them turning up I on the date fixed,-viz., the.23rd of Noveriiiber. Six only outofthefomteenilmwiid

np.when we fixed upon Monday, the 27th of Ngvembei'.-to start, '.When Ireadoiit the agreeraent'that has been signed by ! shearers for (he last 15 years.they informed me that people "wire giving £l, and in some oases 25s per. 100, I at once said that I wasn't aware of it, but that if they went on, and thoy could name me six sheds in the North' Wairarapa that wore shearing I over 5,000 sheep and paying £l, that, ]I would also pay them .the £1 when 1 they finished, which they all declined to do and left.. I now leave It for others to judge whether they were in the right or not, I may add that froin the time theabovomen spoke for places, that I refused places to 23 shearers who were prepared to shear for 17s M per 100, being the prioe'given in everytig shed from [Tiraumea to Kahumingi, .including .Brancepeth and Armedale where 17s 6d was the price paid for big sheep and 16s 8d for iambs, also Castle Point and Manawa, in faot, I do not know of a single big shed in the Wairaiapn where the sheep have., been dagged and £1 has been paid.' A number of the Btnallci settlws have always paid £l, this being the price I have paid on my own property. I now think this is aafßoient proof and speaks for itself when I have got a full board of shoarers, the greater number of them being settlers in the district who know the ins and outs of the whole ease, who came and offered to shear for the 17s 6d. Regarding the man Cassidy who gave his name to a paper as having dosposited a £1 with me I giro the statement a fiat contradiction, m no one of that name has ever deposited a shilling with me. There were only three men, who, strangers tome, deposited a£l'and asked for places.' I handed their monoy to them before reading out the agreement to the other shearers so that they could please themselves whether they went on or not, By inserting the [above you will oblige. I nm, etc., JoasMioßiE, Manager 1

Bowlands, 4th January, 1894. Now, we are not taking either the MacKae or' the Mercier side of the question, but as a matter of journal- , istic honesty ffe call attention to the remarkable discrepancy between the two narratives, and point out that one or the other of the two persons referred to must be misleading the public. It is somewhat singular that when this gifted Australian, Mercier, who is now exploring New Zealand, made a speech in the Masterton Theatre Royal, he told us nothing about this remarkable Maoßae yam, It was not till he got to Waimale—a very safe distance-that he unbosomed hinißelf on this subject. Why did he not beard the lion in his den instead of taking a pot shot at him from the Middle Island ? Apparently the noble Meroier has more discretion than courage, and only fights after he has run away, If Mr Mercier had said at Masterton that which he bns said at Waimate we would have had the truth out afbetween him and Mr Mncßae Very speedily, as Masterton was at .the time thronged with witnesses. Another objection against the misguided Meroier is his report of his mission here. It was a comparative failure, and his great meeting in the Masterton Theatre Uoyal was a fiasco, It was thinly attended, and many of those who were present would not sit out the speeches, It is a pity this district should be so misrepresented in the Middle Island, and we trust some of our contemporaries there will give Mr MaoEne's statement as well as Mr Meroier's. The more respectable shearers in this distriot refused to have anything to do with Missionary Mercier. No doubt he gathered a few adherents amongst men whom he persuaded to bo discontented, and no doubt he induced Mr Hogg to make a speech at his gathering, but we question whether even Mr Hogg after he reads the Mercier report will care to be further identified with that eminent Australian,