XXV RALAHINE AND ITS TEACHINGS 465 



demand for labour and thus tended to lower wages, it 

 benefited only the landlord or farmer, while it injured 

 the labourers. But so soon as these labourers were 

 working for themselves and any surplus profits were their 

 own, labour-saving machinery became a blessing instead 

 of a curse. The Ralahine people, therefore, invested their 

 first savings in a reaping machine, which, in the third 

 3-ear of their work, enabled them to harvest economically 

 a splendid crop of wheat which they had grown on some 

 poor rocky pasture by trenching it eighteen inches deep 

 and getting out all the rock with crowbars. 



This third harvest reaped by the society was an abun- 

 dant one, and they celebrated it by a harvest-home which 

 the landlord attended and in a congratulatory speech 

 summarized the work and success of the Association. He 

 expressed the great satisfaction he felt at the progress 

 the Socijety had made during the short time it had been 

 in existence ; at the harmony which prevailed in the 

 social arrangements of the members ; their evident com- 

 fort, prosperity, and contentment ; contrasting the present 

 happy state of Ralahine and the quiet condition of the 

 county with what it was when his family were compelled, 

 from the dread of outrages and murders, to leave their 

 home in the care of an armed police force. He congratu- 

 lated them on the operation of the new system, which had 

 accomplished a success greater than he had expected ; 

 and he hoped that other landlords w^ould appreciate the 

 advantages of giving those they employed a share in the 

 profits realized by mutual co-operation, as might be seen 

 in the evidence given by the large crops raised on 

 hitherto waste land, made richly productive by deep 

 cultivation, producing a heavy crop of potatoes the first 

 year, followed by the splendid crop of wheat the last load 

 of which they were now carrying home. 



It seems almost incredible that this unexampled 

 success, material, social, and moral, did oiot lead to any 

 general adoption of a similar plan, which was so well 

 calculated to banish famine from the country and to bring 

 about that peace, contentment, and general happiness 

 which from that day to this has been constantly absent 



VOL. II. H H 



