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CHAPTER XVI. 



THE LURE OF IMPROVEMENTS. 



IT has been stated that in March of 78 George Merritt sold to C. H. 

 Stuart one half-share in Tutira. There is an underlined diary entry 

 dated 1st April 78 : " C. H. Stuart takes over the share of T. J. Stuart." 

 There is another : " Ayson received from C. Stuart 40 to pay native 

 track-makers." Doubtless there was some private arrangement between 

 the brothers, for though a minor at the time, the half-share in the 

 station actually belonged to T. J. Stuart from the beginning. 



During the same year Merritt's remaining share was also taken 

 over, no money as far as I can discover passing in the transaction. 

 The probabilities are that there had been advances made from a bank 

 or mortgage company. There would also be on Merritt's part responsi- 

 bility for the working expenses of the place. Not long afterwards a 

 new name appears, that of T. C. Kiernan, who entered into partnership 

 with C. H. Stuart, the latter again, doubtless, acting for his brother. 



In the hands of Messrs Stuart & Kiernan, Tutira was to undergo 

 a vast transformation. They had bought the place to put into it their 

 own personal work, to make a home of it for themselves. They were 

 young, hopeful, and energetic. The earliest written record extant, that 

 of 78, is fragmentary, but in Kiernan's diaries each day's work on 

 Tutira is fully registered between January of 79 and July of '81. 

 Kiernan's diaries are, in fact, items in the early history of Hawke's Bay ; 

 though written of Tutira, they illustrate incidentally the vicissitudes of 

 every sheep-station in the province, the rise and fall of prices, the smiles 

 and frowns of fortune. 



These were the times, as in King Arthur's court, when each hour 

 brought forth some noble deed, when each day saw some wrong to the 

 station righted. The Stuart Brothers and Kiernan loved their run 



