TONGARIRO BUTTER.

Evening Post, Volume LXXV, Issue 31, 6 February 1908, Page 3

TONGARIRO BUTTER.

'"Gooii -night, Mr. Saxton." "Good-night, Charlie.'* The lad went off ; and Saxton came into the house, took the eisy chair waiting for him in the sitting-room, axd contentedly filled his pipe. H was nearly eight o'clock. •'Children all in bed?" His w'ifo answered from the other chair "Yes; Katie is a bit tired with the train?" . •'Thsn she won't feel inclined lor the cows in ths morning?''/ "Oh, yes, I think so: she's beginning to take- an interest in them She- wants you to give her Bessy." Saxton puffed, considering. "Bessy, eh ? No ; I think four is enough for the p-.'esent. "Well" — he changed th« subject — "so you had a good time in 'Wellington? Soiry to leave it, eh?" "Yes ;in a way.'' His w ife paused to adjust .the bow of ribbon on a child's hat; held it at arm's length to get the effect; and resumed bor ausvier. "The change was pleasant ; and the childrou liked the water. But we're glad <<o be back, after all." The wife looked round the attractive room to which she had given the form and colour of. her own personality. She had settled the place of overy piece of furniture, eveTj picture, witb the careful' art of a, bird arranging th<s twigs of its nest. Her brooding gaze letumccl ,to her husband's face. ' "We're very comfortable here, John." "Yes; a bit too much work for 3011, though. But that won't lust for ever. Did I tell you I bought six more cows?" "iso, John. Are you sure you have the feed for them, this weather?" ■'Just manage it, I think. And what we lose in tho yield we get in the price : eh, old lady? Do you thick you oau keep up to ten?" •Tpn ! Way, I take fifteen now." "Yes ; but I've asked Charlie to come over night and morning He'll lake fifteen. Twenty-five for me ; ten for you ; and seven for the children. How many's that make-?" "Can we afford it, John?' "We can, Cis ; and we're going to. It looks to me as if our troubles were over. Another few years like the last ; and we'll be able to retire, olcl girl. Not so bad for Xew Zealand, oh?" "Have you thought about Harrison's land?" "Yes ; we'll take it. He came down ■00 ten pounds cash. That leaves thirty. The cows will clear that off in three years at these prices." His wife mused, "l was talking f.o Annie in Wellington. 'She says they've been getting four pound ten a week for the la3t fifteen years ; and arc just as poor now as when they started. She says it io all, gone to the landlords — and to us." "Yes ; that's about the strength of it. Landlords and producers. The money Etays with them. The Wellington" man juf-t handles it." "What do you think of it, John ?' The hat was held up for inspectioa "Looks all right. Are you off now'" "Yes; I've got to get used to four o'clock again. You won't be long?"' "No ; I'll just have a look at the paper.' His wife gone : Saxlon stretched out his hand for the Evening Post ; opened it ; and whistled. "Tongaiiro butter held for a hundred and twenty-eight. That's the best yet. A hundred and twenty -eight ! Sales ahundred and twenty-six. Danish a. hundred and twenty-seven. So we beat the Danish! No ; ' theirs will be held for higher still. One^s sales; t'olher's quotations. It' isn't quality; but <?ight■\veeke' butter will never be as good as five-days' for London market. But a hundred and twenty-eight ! Saxton re-lit his pipe and reflected. , Thirteen years before he had left his small Leicester farm and turned ilia face to New Zealand. With 'many misgivings ; and only because it was clear that if he stayed he might make a hand-to-mouth living al) his clave, as hi& father had done — as his brolhci, who Yiad taken o\er the faim, was doing. .Rent, and taxes, and tithes — and n bare living over That was Leicester : iinless a man had big capital, or unusuaJ luck. But Saxon had a shrewder headpiece than his friends ; and he was a reader. New Zealand tempted him. He pondeiod al' the information he could get, and made tho plunge. "It looks a lot better," was his summary, "and it can't well be worbe." Ho came to Wellington; travelled round ; and set .led down near Carterton. After selling ofl everything he had i 550, and land was cheaper then. Ru was very re:rly going hi for gia ; n, and ne\er, forgot to bo grateful to tho man who ndvised and peisuaded him to make it daiiying. Sovcnty-five, acres, at £12 an acre — now worth £30. He paid down £2 only, and turned his fuco uphill to work off tho balance— he aud fifteen cows; and the wife. Katin was the baby' then. £60 went in building and furnishing tho two-roomed skillion, now the barn, in which they had lived, with now and again an addition, for the first eight years. It was drudgery ; but they took it ea.-ijy Up at four o'clock in the morning ; bec l at right o'clock at night. No picnic in tho mud on wet mornings ! But, with pigs and fowls, there were only a few groceries to get, and firewopi cost nothing. lyioney went nearly twice as far as it djvl in 'the city. And the second year, with all his improvements psid for, he knocked HI an aero off his land. Next year il was £2, in seven years the land was clear. Nearly c\ery cow he bought turned out ; for he had gruv 3 up among beasts, and was a good judge of a milker. The eighth year's profits went to put up the house — four rooms, and kitchen — fpr Saxtnn believed in decent living. That ypar he took a rbk ; but the cows met the risk. Next year he added another seventy-five acres ; and now lip had house and 150 acres clear, ,-ir.d 57 cows fo milk night and morning. It was not particularly good pasture ; about the average. The three children were growing up; Katie wat fourteen. .Thoy took their sba.ro of the milking, and walked f.v\o miles to achodl afterward?, and came home and milked again ; and throve on 1 it. They were well fed ; and Saxton caw that they were well rested. Early hours at night made up for early hours in 'the morning ; and most days they went to bed at . sundown. He himself was in bed before nine o'clock 360 days in the year "£4BO grosp last year. And London butter held for a, hundred and twentyeight. It looks all right," Saxton reflected. The smell of the dairy came in through the open window. Now and again a restless beast was heard in tho night. Saxton's imagination was kindled. His mind expanded to the breadth and length of New Zealand, and. everywhere he saw men like himself, aided by labour and fortune, working and thriving. Everywhere, from the swelling udders of the cows," men such as he were drawing down the foaming tide of milk, drawing the tide, of the country's prosperity. Saxton shut the window, and turned to put out tho lamp. He looked back to the -past, and forward to the future. "Well," he said, as he groped in the dark to the bedroom, "God bless New Zealand !" A.G.S.