IN THE BEGINNING 119 



experiment in sheep-farming had not been a success. He had paid two 

 or three seasons' rent, and lost, in one way or another, probably nearly 

 half his sheep. 



In 1875 the station was sold to Edward Toogood for 5. I under- 

 stand, however, from Mr J. C. Tylee, who managed the place during 

 Toogood's tenancy, that even this sum was given, not chiefly for the 

 goodwill of the place, but as payment for any claim Newton might have 

 had on his abandoned sheep and their wild progeny. Again the run was 

 stocked with 4000 sheep and 100 head of cattle. Boundaries were kept, 

 the sheep only allowed to roam over what are now called the Natural 

 and Reserve paddocks. The cattle lived about the swamp land round 

 the margin of the lake. Tylee also tells me that two or three bags of 

 grass seed were sown and that a few chains of fencing were erected. 



Times were now beginning to mend a little ; there were prospects 

 of lasting peace ; property was becoming more secure. The energy, 

 moreover, of certain settlers in southern Hawke's Bay was proving that 

 fern-runs could be made to pay, at any rate in good soils and in dry 

 districts. Toogood, like other sheep-farmers, was beginning to " im- 

 prove," and doubtless found himself fully occupied with his Tangoio 

 property. Be that as it may, Tutira was sold by him early in '77 to 

 G. J. Merritt for 2500 a few score pounds more than the value of 

 the 4000 sheep delivered with the place. In March of the following 

 year Merritt sold to C. H. Stuart one half-share in Tutira together with 

 3600 sheep for the sum of 2500 ; it had been purchased for T. J. Stuart, 

 a younger brother not of age. As Merritt had given that sum for the 

 full share not long before and spent nothing in " improvements," he 

 must have cleared something by the transaction, how much, at this 

 distance of time, it is impossible to discover. It would depend on 

 the age, condition, and sex of the stock delivered, and many other 

 eventualities. 



Up to this date the station had been owned by men who had not 

 lived on it. Newton was a Napier merchant, Toogood's real interests 

 lay in his Tangoio property, Merritt was a settler in Clive. Each of 

 them had looked upon Tutira as a mere speculation ; it had been 

 regarded as a step-child. Its new owner, Mr T. J. Stuart, was a settler 

 of a very different type ; from the beginning he cared for the place. 

 It was to be developed by his own labour ; it was to become a home 

 made by his own hands. 



