RAMBLINGS BY A TRAMP.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXIV, Issue 7920, 12 April 1887, Page 6

RAMBLINGS BY A TRAMP.

'<* OFF AGAIN. '8 The flag falls, and we are really off for 1 11 "Chioagoof tho North"—this is what! 36 inhabitants of Palmerston North love to c * their city. Musket, twirling his tall a rf protrudjjng his ears, was in quite a joyc ' mood, and, whilo gently jogging along, k( \ x up an animated conversation with his I is across the fenoes—Musket's ears are a tri it long, but we caution any inexperienc y joke© playing with them unless his oi lr legs are absolutely perfect and his witticii ' is very pure. ° AWAHURI. d Four miles from Feilding is Awahu h where we refreeh at Faloon's Hotel— K -. Printer will pleaso spell it double ~o " written; "gen'elman'B partiklor"—says „ is no relation to old Dan. Fallon, of Auo g land.. Besides the " pub," there is a coup e of stores; in one of them Iβ the post offic J They don't spread, but are all togettu , There is a Maori settlement adjoining, ai j the natives appear to be rich, and contri' a to realise not a few of the comforts civilisation. 1 THE WHITE CHIEF. 9 On the outskirfc of the township stau< a the handsome mansion of the White Chi Macdonald, who some years ago made J stir in this corner of the world by shootii i a mail-coach horse as an assertion of h rights in the road. The law vindicated i f rights, and gave tho horse-killer two yea on the roads, and the world wagged i t before. I visited his place for the purpo I of seeing him that I might give the roade j of the Wkkkly News some idea of the eo j of man he is. I was not in luck ; the chi waa in Auckland. Somehow 1 have nev been fortunate enough to hook a first-cla celebrity. When I was at Parihaka, tl author of the simple story, "The potato cooked," was in gaol. At Marton, tl epiuning-jenny man was chopping muttoi and. the aristocratic Aldington was biu with the baby?— noblesse oblige —nary n oblige. On the Lower Rangittkei, the mi lionsiro McKelvie could not bo found, have since heard the old chap is looking f( me with a big stick. At Awahuri, whithc I have come, the only object of interest i the place is away in Auckland—wonder o what business? In the way of catohin celebrities, as they say in Gypeyland, "m mozzle is out." Report, however, saith thi Mr. Maodonakl is not a bad sort; that he hospitable, and a jolly good fellow. Tt Macdonald's "imps" aro not likely 1 emulate tho desperate deeds of their sin The " derring do" of these snowdrops wi be confined to snch small capers as riding horse into the private bar of a hotel for drink, HOP-PICKING. Around Awahuri are several small ho gardens. We passed one shortly after w turned on to tho " Rangitikei Line," as the call the road to Pslmerston, cultivated b a Mr. Hopkins. Our sense of the uatur; fitness of things is always gratified when w see a name aad business in " sympstheti accord." During the hop-picking seasonlasting six or eight weeks—women an children, boys and girls, good and bad, dea and dumb, weak and strong—everybody indeed, who have rarely an opportunit offered to earn a little money—oan go ou and pick hops at threepence a bushel, am make from five to eight shillings a day From Feilding, which supplies the bulk c them, the hop-pickers are conveyed to am from the gardens morning and evening The hardships of picnicking and the sweet of labour are about evenly blended in tb case of these Awahuri hop-pickers. A NEW PLEA FOR PROTECTION, . The hop crop, I am told, has been gene rally good this season, but growers complaii oi the low prices ruling, and eay it does no pay to grow hops* I presume the prejudic that exists in reference to all articles o colonial product or manufacture affects hop in common with other things. Yet it i utter nonsense to say the home or foreigi article is better, for in most cases it i positively dearer than and inferior to th' colonial. What a protective tariff is wantei for is not so much for the purpose of en abling the colonial to compete in price witl the outsider as to edncate the people inti the habit of using and consuming the pro duce and manufactures of the colony—pro tecting them, in fact, from the consequence of their own silly and suicidal prejudices. MUSKET'S FRIEND. At length we jogged our journey to s finish in '• Chicago," and walked into Walk ley's Club Hotel. Here Musket fell on hii feet, as the saying is, and found a friend \\ Frank Palme.-, who keeps the atablei attached to this hoatelry —"he was worrj good to Musket, he was." Frank is an ok Auckland and. Thames identity. His fam< as a horseman and trainer dates back to ths days when the Auckland Racing Carniva was held on the Kpaom Course, and whet the people weDl tn eee the races, and not t( gamble with the totalisator. He was amon; tbe first pioneers of the Thames GoldfieUi and still shows hie studs and sleeve-linki and pendant, in the shape of a stirrup-iron, made of Thames gold, as mementoes of hii mining experience. Frank looked npor Musket as a personal friend, and was nevei tired of giving him a bit of oats. When h< went out to 'the training-ground with hii own " prad" a.t five in the morning, Musket had to have a feed ; then another when ht came back ; and whenever a horse came ic for feed Musket had to get a bit, "just tc keep him quiet." "Lor' a-muesy," Frank would say to me, "how that'osa o , yourn do eat. to be sure." •• Yes, Frank, he has a pretty good appetite. I'll back him to eat the head off anything loss than an elephant.' " I think you might throw in the tail, too j" and Frank would get a wet cloth and rub Musket till his skin shone like a patent leather boot. Musket was certainly a phenomenon on oats. In tho dark I could always tell his whereaboute by the crunching of his corn-mill. PALMERSTON NORTH. Like Feilding, this city is laid out on a big scale ; much too big for present requirements, but I have no doubt a few generations hence it will get filled up. In the meantime the expense of forming and keepiDg in repair its many big streets increase the taxes enormously. Still, the people of Palmerston are undismayed, and, with a heart as big as their city, have gone in for a big loan to make streets and obtain a water supply. The latter is wanted badly. They were boring for an artesian supply when I was there, but, judging from the length of the Government stroke, I don't suppose ley have struck it yet. It is to be hoped : they will reach it before the glare of conflagration startles the Palmeretonian from his peaceful slumbers. Palmerston—in addressing to this Palmerston don't forget to add North, because all letters and parcels not so addressed find tbeir way to Palmerston in the South—Palmerston North, then, is built on the square, or, rather, on the sides of a square. Its centre is an open space, about the size of the Albert Park, and is divided into two parte by the railway, which runs through it. The station, with the post office attaohed, is here conveniently placed. I don't see the neoessity for so large a "lung," and, if Palmerston was to come into the square, and put the square outside, it would be more accessible, economical, and convenient every way. The buildings are commensurate with the ideas of the first Patera of Palmerston and the size of the town. The banks and the hotels ara all on a big scale, and there are one or two handsome blocks that would do credit to any city. There is an important, busi-ness-like front and we've-come-to-stay air about the buildings of Palmerston that is calculated to give confidence to those who have doubts of its stability, or who may think it is "too big for its boots.'- The size and consequentional tone assumed by some of the inland towns may be taken as a joke, but the country behind them Js no joke; that, at all events, is an immense fact. Whatever may happen to the towns, the country will remain to furnish the food supply of a vast population. However, there is little likelihood of Palmerston North disappearing for want of business. From its central position and tbe command it has of the railway routes, it seems destined to become in the interior what Wellington is on the seaboard—" the great distributing port."