COMMERCIAL AND INDUSTRIAL. 



'395 



consumed by the victim a matter left entirely to the judgment of the publican he \v;is 

 forcibly informed of the fact ; given, perhaps, a bottle of rum and some tobacco, and 

 told to take himself off and come back when he had earned another cheque ; and so 

 the shepherd disappeared from view for another year or two, and prepared himself by 

 a course of rigid abstinence and self-denial to be worthy to pass through the same 



HARVESTING ON THE WIMMERA PLAINS. 



delirious ecstacy of pleasure 

 once more. All this is rapidly 

 passing away now; but there are still 

 bush-shanties and low public-houses 

 where the process of " lambing-down " 

 is carried on, and some still remain- 

 ing instances of foolish shearers having 

 taken the place of the old-time shep- 

 herds who were so eager to "knock 



clown their cheques." Boundary-riders have now taken the place of shepherds. Shearers 

 are usually small selectors and others, who travel from station to station in the season, 

 at the beginning of summer, and take contracts or engagements for the work of fleecing 

 the sheep preparatory to sending the wool to market. They are paid by the score of sheep 

 passed through their hands, and the more expert among them often earn enough in 

 this way to make their expenses for the year a matter beyond the scope of anxious 

 concern. The sum gained is a handsome addition to the profits of their farms, and 

 indeed without it the selections would often not be tenable. After the shearing, an 

 experienced wool-sorter skirts and classes the wool, arranging it according to its qualities. 



