212 ON AND OFF THE TURF. 



at Winbar 139,000 sheep and lambs were shorn within 

 fourteen weeks, and had it not been for the shearers' 

 strike the work would have been completed in three 

 weeks' less time. 



I was in the Colonies during the last shearers' 

 strike, and saw much, of the difficulties it caused on 

 the stations. When the roll was called at Winbar, 

 last July, 1894, there were thirty-one police pre- 

 sent to preserve law and order. About 120 men 

 were present, none of whom would sign the agree- 

 ment, and the manager ordered them off the station 

 premises, and they formed a camp, a quarter of a 

 mile below the wool-shed, and selected the public 

 roadway as their camping ground. Eleven men had, 

 however, signed the agreement prior to the roll 

 being called, and with them shearing was com- 

 menced. 



The Union delegate purchased provisions for the 

 men in the camp, from the bawling steamers on the 

 Darling, and these goods were paid for out of the 

 Union funds. At one time there were 200 men in the 

 camp. They remained there three weeks, during 

 which time pickets were sent out to guard the 

 various approaches to the station. These pickets 

 usually went out in squads of four, all armed with 

 carefully trimmed waddies made from saplings. 

 These waddies were for use should moral suasion 

 not have the desired effect on the non- Union men. 



