132 



CHAPTER XVII. 



HARD TIMES. 



IN the chapter just closed the reader has enjoyed without alloy the 

 delights of land improvement ; without thought of the morrow and with- 

 out anxiety as to finance, he has contemplated the beginning of a sheep 

 station ; but, alas ! pleasure and profit do not always march hand in 

 hand. Local knowledge, experience, judgment, acquaintance with stock, 

 each plays an important role, each is necessary to final success. There 

 were other reasons, too, militating against our young men about which 

 nothing yet has been said. 1 



Well then, harking back to the last days of March, it will be remem- 

 bered that Kiernan bought sixty rams, for which he had presumably 

 given a station cheque of 150. On 1st April I find recorded these 

 words : " Was surprised cheque for rams had been returned by Bank 

 of New Zealand; had to give my private cheque for 150 to meet it." 

 8th April : " C. H. Stuart returned from town with news of hard times 

 and the likelihood of having to sell the run. Everybody down on account 

 of bad news" 9th April: "At Kihekanui, very miserable on account of 

 bad news no heart to do anything" 10th April : " Went to town to 



1 It is never pleasant to speak plainly on certain subjects, especially in a book of this sort, 

 open to the general reader, yet surely, after the attainment of a certain age and of a certain 

 amount of experience, warning becomes a plain dnty. Reading, then, between the lines of 

 certain entries in these diaries, it cannot be concealed that our pioneers had got into very 

 dangerous company. It is not my place to preach readers will resent anything in the way of a 

 sermon ; I suppose, too, that young men will be young men to the end of time yet, to be frank, 

 there were persons to be met with in the streets of Napier and pretty openly too whom it 

 would have been better our pioneers should never have known. There were parlours, too easy 

 of access altogether, where nothing but harm could happen. If the presence of a certain class, 

 if the trade they ply, cannot be eliminated, its conditions, at any rate, should be regulated. In 

 the 'eighties nothing of that sort had been attempted ; bankers and managers of mortgage 

 companies might charge what rates they chose. Legislation in respect to this matter came 

 later, when the New Zealand Government began itself to borrow and relend cheap money to 

 struggling settlers. In the 'eighties it was otherwise. In those days young fellows like the 

 Stuart Brothers and Kiernan were, in spite of themselves, so to speak, forced into bad company. 



