THE PARTNERSHIP OF H. G.-S. AND T. J. S. 223 



and for themselves, wool rose 2d. That rise saved the writer; the 

 advance on the previous wool-clip had been what is technically known 

 as a " safe " advance, perhaps Id. under the price to be reasonably 

 anticipated. The particular sale day, moreover, on which our clip was 

 auctioned in London must have been one of maximum prices in a 

 buoyant market. We obtained, at any rate, more nearly 4d. than 2d. 

 per Ib. over the prices of the previous year ; when the account sales were 

 rendered there was a surplus of something like 500 to the credit of the 

 station. Stuart, who had been hesitating, now decided to risk what 

 he had saved and been able to rescue from his particular debacle, and 

 to take over the half-share. The sum he was able to command was as 

 fruitful as the famous one million kept by Baring for the immediate 

 development of the lands of Egypt. With it in hand, once again we 

 began to improve. They were improvements done in a very different 

 manner to the reckless, haphazard system of the past. Every penny I 

 had a most excellent, thrifty partner had to be considered ; nor were 

 we content with the first plan that promised success ; the scheme finally 

 adopted was the best of many fully thought out, all of which promised 

 success. 



For the following twenty years Stuart and I worked together ; we 

 had each of us been through the mill. I believe that during our long 

 partnership no considerable blunder was perpetrated. 



The abiding difficulty of the run, the simultaneous making of the 

 country and the proper feeding of stock, has already been touched upon. 

 It was insoluble then, and remained so for twenty years. It was likewise 

 impossible to change light lands into good lands ; what, however, we 

 could do was done. 



We utilised this disability ; we even made it produce results not 

 very different in pounds, shillings, and pence from the famous stations 

 of southern Hawke's Bay. The value of the trough of the run lay pre- 

 eminently in its suitability for the rearing of young sheep. On its dry 

 porous soil, suckling, the best feed in the world for hoggets, flourished 

 amazingly ; it was impossible to grow a heavy wool-clip, but this we 

 determined to remedy by a large output of surplus stock. The lime- 

 stone range of eastern Tutira enabled us to carry a sufficiency of ewes. 

 The whole of the rest of the station was given up to hoggets ; ewes only 

 and hoggets were run. 



In regard to feeding, the problem has been stated before : we could 



