32 Australian Life 



clients with the best fare obtainable, utterly be- 

 lying the name of "poisoner," usually bestowed 

 upon him. He has to cater for a very fastidious 

 company, but he is well paid for his work, and 

 can afford to ignore a good deal of captious 

 grumbling. The shearers themselves earn splen- 

 did wages while at work, the standard rate being 

 one pound for each hundred sheep shorn. A good 

 shearer can average a hundred a day taking the 

 easy work with the hard, and under exceptional 

 circumstances, tallies as high as three hundred 

 in a day have been made. This, however, is a 

 notable piece of work, and the names of the men 

 who have performed such exceptional feats are 

 known throughout pastoral Australia, "from the 

 Gulf to the Bight." Even when living upon all 

 the luxuries at his command, the shearer's ex- 

 penditure rarely exceeds one pound per week, so 

 that the men usually have good cheques to draw 

 when the shed has "cut out." 



Bach fleece is taken by the picker-up to the 

 table of the wool-roller, who trims it neatly, re- 

 moving the dirty edges, and rolls it up for the in- 

 spection of the wool-classer. This expert decides 

 on the quality of the fleece, and places it in one of 

 a number of bins, each bearing a distinguishing 

 letter denoting the quality of the wool it contains. 

 The bins are from time to time emptied by the 

 wool-pressers, who bale the wool with the aid of 

 the big press, marking each bale with the quality 

 of the wool and the station brand. The bales are 



