VICISSITUDES 391 



the meantime steadily running out. With only seven years remaining, 

 it was impossible to improve ; without improvements the flock began 

 to diminish in weight of wool and in general productivity. More than 

 that, chance of success in the law courts militated for the time being 

 against the run. It postponed work which would have been done in the 

 ordinary course of events ; fern and scrub, that otherwise would have 

 been fired, were allowed to remain unburnt ; the possibility of dealing 

 properly with the large area of waste lands in central Tutira had to be 

 taken into account. This postponement, although of future advantage 

 in case of success, was in the meantime detrimental to the health of the 

 flock ; it was the sacrifice of a certain present to a problematic 

 future. There occurred, on a greater scale than ever before, what 

 has been fully explained in previous chapters. A huge contraction 

 of the area over which sheep fed took place. Fern and scrub closed 

 in everywhere, relegating stock on to the highly - manured tops, the 

 sunny northern and western hill-slopes, the fertile alluvial flats. 



Nothing, however good or evil, endures for ever. The Lower 

 Court pronounced that, "unless notice of appeal be given within one 

 month from this date, and proper security be found for the costs of 

 the appeal," the Tutira leases were to be executed by the Board. That 

 was the main matter. 



I should have let it go at that. Not so the other parties. Why 

 stop now and lose half the fun? Notice of appeal was launched, 

 when again it was ordered that the leases must be executed. 



As to the future, the Court very properly refused to stay 

 execution, and also very properly refused to grant any interim 

 prohibition ; leave, however, on the other hand quite unnecessarily, 

 in my opinion, was granted to appeal to the Privy Council ; in 

 short, the Court was disgustingly fair. Towards me, who deserved it, 

 it was right that this should have been so, for, without a proper title, 

 how in the world could I proceed with my improvements ? Towards 

 my opponents it was an open - mindedness absolutely chucked away ; 

 for there is no reason now to make a secret of the fact that, whilst 

 the writer himself and his legal advisers were men of the highest 

 moral standing, those acting against him showed a callous depravity 

 sad to find in human nature. One great source of uneasiness to me 

 at the time was, I remember, lest these wretches should contaminate 

 my men. I could not but share in the amazement and horror of 



