ROUGHING IT IN NEW ZEALAND.

Manawatu Times, Volume LXIV, Issue 104, 6 May 1907, Page 2

ROUGHING IT IN NEW ZEALAND.

(From the "Westminster Gazette.) There are some interesting passages in a letter just received by the Central (Unemployed) Body for London from an engineer's handy man , who, with his wife and little boy, were sent to New Zealand after being three months out of work. The arrival at Wellington was not. calculated to cheer the hearts of the emigrants We arrived on a Sunday. It rained hard all day. The people on shore said it was like that six days, out of the seven, and it nearly broKe-. the hearts of some of them on board.. I heard two say, "I shan't get offI'll go back again." When Monday morning came we went and found the Labour Bureau. We were sent to a room to sit down. There were about 20 of us, all bent for the Main Trunk line. About eight [of us. looked like working men; but theothers, with cuffs and collars, and. ties, and a black ring around their necks where they had been washing with them on, they didn't look much fit for pulling about mud and muck , although they liked to keep a little under their collars and ties! Well, Mr Mackay, the superintendent, looked aroundl and said to a few of these lady-cliasers, "What can you do?" And they said, "We can use a pick and shovel, sir.' And he said, "You don't look much like pick and shovel men.'' And one of them, with breeches and leggings on, and a collar pushing his chin up so that he was looking at the ceiling instead of at Mr Mackay in the face, said, "I have dug trenches in South Africa, sir.'' Ten men were wanted for making concrete, so he took the names of eight of us and two of the lady-chasers. The others were sent on to Auckland. The arrival of the little party at | Taihape, a railway journey of 150 1 miles, for which the men's fares I were advanced by the Government ! and stopped out of their first month's salary, was not devoid of incident. We got to Taihape some time in the night. It was then a small town at the rail-head, but now the line is far away up in the mounl tains. Well, I have heard of being up to my knees in mud, but I was never in it before. There are no roads out here in the country. They can't get any stone to make them, but as the line goes on they open up quarries and gravel-pits. When we got out of the train we had to find lodgings, and it was pitch dark. There was a bit of a path to lead down to where the houses were, and we followed that and came to a boardinghouse, knocked up toe people, and inquired for bedß. He could put up the men, but he had no room for a woman, and I had my wife and child with me. He told me a woman "across the road" had room for us. Well, I went to go across this "road" and down I went up to my knees in mud! I had to carry my wife across; but there it was—proper, gocd mud. There were drays and waggons alongside the road waiting for the mud to dry up. They were buried up to the body. n , The unhappy "lady-chasers" had a bad time on arrival at the cement works. That night we slept i® the cement shed. It was full up, and we had to go on the top. I knew the way to rough it , and so did a few more of them; but, oh! . the poor ladychasers. They could not see out of their eyes the next morning. Tliey had caught a cold. There had been a sharp frost in the night, and their trousers were wet above the knees the day before. In the morning they were so stiff they couldn't get their legs tlirougli them. These hardships, however, were not without substantial reward. We got 9s a day digging out foundations, and 8s a yard putting in concrete. Twelve of us put in 40 yards a day—that is 26s 8d each. That is thrown in with the day's work. It works out to 15s or 16s a. day. Not bad. Of course, we can't go on concreting every day; we have to get it ready first. Out of the ten of us that were esnt up here there are five left—myself and four Devonians. I started work on June 2, and up to January 2 I had saved exactly £50. If a man wants more than that lie ought to have nothingIf all is well I hope to be settled down on a Bpot of land, about.Boo acres. lam applying to the Government for it now. It costs about £15 or £20 a year. The bush has got to be cleared. You can sell the timber that is on it for £8 to £10an acre. Then burn the rest, and down with your grass seed on thetop of the ashes. It is up in no time. J It is no use for a man to come out here unless he knows what work is. The colony is not up yet, and men are wanted who can swing an axe or use a pick and shovel. If they find themselves up here in the bush, and can do neither, they wilL commit suicide Two chaps ended their misery like this not long ago. It is hard to realise that the writer was stranded in London without a. penny to bless himself with-so short a time ago. The Unemployed Body, not without reason, regard the £22 10s spent upon the emigration of this family as a particularly sound investment.