336 THE PASTORAL AGE IN AUSTRALASIA 



So far, the optimist Boldrewood. In New South Wales 

 the resentment has been deep and lasting. Speaking 

 in xlugust, 1910, the President of the Pastorahst Union 

 of Southern Riverina, ]\Ir, J. A. Campbell, said that 

 many graziers were forced " to buy a great deal of 

 purely grazing land that it A\"ould have paid them much 

 better to hold under lease." They had to buy land in 

 self-defence against the selectors. The}^ Avent into debt 

 to do this, and bought the land for more than it was 

 worth. Generally, he added, the settlement in small 

 areas in the Western Riverina has proved a failure. 

 The soil Avas not suited to agriculture in consequence 

 of "the uncertainty of the seasons and the smashing 

 droughts." 



Lady Barker, in her Station Amusements, has drawn 

 a vivid little picture of the invasion of the great pastoral 

 holdings by the small selectors. Did a cockatoo or a 

 mining speculator cast a greedy eye on anj^ part of j'^our 

 run, he had only to go to the Crown Lands Office 

 and '' challenge your pre-emptive rights." You were 

 informed of the challenge and given six weeks to raise 

 the purchase-money. But it w as often hard for a run- 

 holder to raise some hundreds of pounds on short notice, 

 and few did. Hence, large runs in the best situations 

 were often cut up by small investors. People grew to 

 distrust almost any stranger seen riding about. That 

 was in New Zealand. In Queensland Mr. Grant asserts 

 that squatters often availed themselves of their pre- 

 emjjtive rights. Just so, when pastoralism begins to 

 decline, do younger sons leave the patriarchal home or 

 the station, and go out into the world. Many of them 

 become farmers, and thus initiate the agricultural phase. 

 Others remain connected with the pastoral stage by 

 founding its commercial branches in cities. Others still 

 adventure in industry or commerce. And still others 

 become legislators or take part in the work of adminis- 

 tration. 



As in some ancient pastoral countries, after the no- 

 madic stage has ceased, so in AustraUa in later days, 



