THE PARTNERSHIP OF H. G.-S. AND T. J. S. 



221 



spite of his misfortunes, had 

 already become attached to 

 the place ; he elected to hold 

 The Company behaved 



on. 



decently in so far as it lieth 

 in a loan company to do 

 so ; they had no malevolent 

 desire to " bust " him ; cer- 

 tainly they cannot have 

 wanted such a station as 

 Tutira then was on their 

 books. They agreed to a 

 small reduction in the rate 

 of interest ; what was more 

 valuable, the station was 

 afforded the chances of time 

 and tide. Not only did 

 the National Mortgage and 

 Agency Company volun- 

 tarily forgo full interest, 

 but they interfered on the 

 writer's behalf when the 

 local firm with whom he 

 dealt in Napier attempted 

 to charge 13 per cent on 

 his current account. 1 



For a couple of seasons 

 the fortunes of the run 

 hung in the balance. It 

 was saved as many another 

 station has been saved in New Zealand by the process of sitting 

 tight, by strict cessation of expenditure. Items such as interest, rent 



1 Years afterwards, during the great war, the writer found himself thus interrogated by 

 a fellow-worker in a certain hospital: Did he know New Zealand? "Yes" heartily "the 

 best place going ! " Did he happen to know a town called Napier 1 " Rather " very enthusi- 

 astically " the prettiest spot in the world ! " Then you must remember my brother, who 



used to manage for ? . . . It was the man who had charged me 13 per cent ! ! Will 



the reader deem me implacable, ungenerous, unforgiving, will he blame me for lack of 

 magnanimity when I confess that the acquaintanceship with my new-found friend cooled ? 

 Honestly, I could not effervesce over that brother. 



" Truculent in the superlative degree." 



