148 Australian Life 



board and lodging. There is no act of Parliament 

 to regulate his hours of labour, which frequently 

 extend from early dawn till long after sunset. 

 When it is considered that the climate is a very 

 trying one, and that the work includes milking, 

 clearing, burning off a grimy and choking occu- 

 pation as well as farm work of all kinds, the 

 conditions of his life must be accounted sufficiently 

 hard. They serve to account for the presence in 

 the cities of bands of unemployed clamouring for 

 Government relief works with pay at the rate 

 of seven shillings for the eight-hour day, while 

 the farmers are unable to obtain sufficient labour. 

 The uncertainty and irregularity of agricultural 

 employment which I trust I have sufficiently 

 emphasised and the superior attractions of city 

 life must also be considered when one is seeking 

 to account for this state of affairs. 



When a few more decades have passed, the 

 writer of such a book as this will probably find it 

 necessary to devote a chapter to life on the Aus- 

 tralian vineyards. On the sunny slopes of the 

 warmer temperate areas, the vigneron finds a soil 

 and climate admirably suited to the production 

 of wine of a very high quality. Among the 

 pioneer vignerons were many French and German 

 settlers, who have made their picturesque un- 

 Australian homes amid the most pleasant sur- 

 roundings to be found in all the continent. From 

 the broad vine-covered, brick-paved veranda of 

 such a house may be obtained the pleasing pro- 



