TOWN AND COUNTRY COMPARE NOTES

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22402, 24 April 1936, Page 1 (Supplement)

TOWN AND COUNTRY COMPARE NOTES

By. ANON

"JHEiT had been neighbours for some years, although their ways had long divided. * To the one man his friend's failure had been the essence of tragedy—the loss of a farm, the necessity to live in town, to earn a living by ways that he vaguely felt "unnatural," his was the most miserable of fates. Therefore this meeting after separation, the sight of his former comrade not merely surviving, but apparently flourishing, brought him deep satisfaction. Immediately, as is the way with those who have shared the hardships of the backblocks, the gulf of time was bridged and they were eagerly Bharing the harvest of the years. The ex-farmer, very prosperous and tailored, was emphatic that Fate had been his friend when she drove him off the land. "Not, mind you, that I didn't feel it at the time. Yes, I thought I'd had a knock-out blow. You know how it was: we were full of enthusiasm when we came back from tlio war; prices were good, promises bettor, the era of prosperity had dawned —and bo on. "There was sentiment mixed up with it too, thfe feeling that we'd been maiming and destroying; now we were going to do our share of rebuilding. Everyone egged us on; the country was going to stand by the returned soldier; we'd done our bit, now it was their turn . . . All that eye-wash. "But it wore pretty thin during the '22 slump. Already people were Retting tired of returned soldiers. The Government considered it had paid its debt-

Quality of Success in Question

when it put us on the land, not worrying whether wo were suitable, or the land either. It was our business to stay put, not theirs to keep lis there. In short, we were already back numbers. "Well, 1 suppose 1 was one of the unsuitable men. I realise that now. At the time I only saw that they had bought poor land at too high a price and loaded it with a mortgage; the same with the stock. Even in the best times it would have been hard; the slump of '22 made it impossible. Well, my view simply was that they'd gene back on me and I'd no scruple in slipping them up. I'd given all my savings, my war gratuity, and five years of my .life to that farm, and L reckoned that balanced accounts . The Unsuitable Man "The land? No, that didn't worry me; it was only a means t > an end after all. When 1 found it wouldn't bring mo in a living, I hated the sight of it. What's it like now? Ah, I thought it would do that —go back to ragwort and gorse and fern It was showing signs before 1 left. Well, I look on it all as the fault of the men who put me there; they knew the land's capabilities and they knew my resources. Not that I feel any bitterness now; it was the best turn they could have done, to cure me of the land fever. "Failure? No, I didn't look on it like that, not after a bit. Of course it was hard at first; one's seif-respect—or was it conceit? —had had a knock, and it wasn't easy to make a fresh start. Hut I did it and I'm right now. Not even the big slump shook my business and, barring accidents, I'm safe for life. I was always cut out for business, you see, not for farming, but it took the loss of my money and the Government's to prove it to me. "Well, it's a good life now; a snug little business, a school round one corner for the children, a picture theatre round the other, plenty of com-

forts and conveniences for their mother, safe jobs for them when they leave school —not one. of them would be such fools as to move out ©f town. When I think of tha't clay road, and the school four miles off, the hard work in all weathers, the poverty and hopelessness. . . . Well, I can safely say the best day's work I ever did was when .1 walked off that farm. The Other Side "Of course 1 admit there's some things you don't get again. Friendships, for example. You'd say I've plenty of mates here, but it's different. In the backblocks you pull together, stand by each other, know the best and the worst. Yes, there are no friends like the old ones. That was why it was so good to see you again, and not much changed. Older, of course, and look as if you've roughed it, but you haven't that strained look we fellows get. Tell me, how did you get on? 1 often wondered whether the big slump hit you hard?" The farmer was not a ready talker, but presently he found himself telling the story of those twelve years to a listener who, if not uncritical, was always sympathetic. Yes, the slump had been bad, but largely because he was still struggling under the effects of the first. They had both started alike —plenty of hope and enthusiasm, but not many other assets. He had struggled on, working twelve hours a day, fencing, burning, clearing, sowing. Ihe improvements had not merely swallowed the profits hut forced him to incur liabilities, so that when the big slump came it found him with a mortgage over his stock as well as his land. "But how did you live? Somebody left vou money, I suppose?" No, there had been no legacy, but thev had struggled on; he had got work here and there, on the road, or fencing for more prosperous neighbours; they had milked a few cows, although tho land was unsuitable and the distance from a factory too great. At first the firm to whom the stock was mortgaged had kept them going for essential stores, hut when that was stopped it had been a struggle. Luckily they had found that it is possible to exist on tho bread line, or rather the bread-butter-milk-and mutton line. Victory Over Circumstance Schooling? Yes, the children had ridden the four miles through the bush to the school and passed their standards; one had won a scholarship, tho others were keen on the farm. They had all pulled together and learned not to ask too much from life. "We've strained every nerve to free the stock, and by dint of living on what we've made and putting everything else back we've done it. Now we're tackling the land mortgage . . . The farm?" Here the farmer's face brightened. Yes, it was improved out of all knowledge. He'd liko to show it to him, clean pastures, healthy stock, hardly recognisable for the poor land on whicli they had struggled side by side. In short, though the battle had been long and in its course had exhausted all his resources, the victory was with the man—and the land. Always he spoke of the land as of a friend to whom he owed loyalty, never as an enemy seeking to ruin him. "But yourself? Are you earning a. living wage yet?" This was a new way of looking at it and needed consideration. Yes, he supposed so. Last year, after tho stock mortgage was paid off, they cleared £2OO. but this had been partly put back into the land mortgage. But, if prices kept good, in ten years they ought to . . . "But, man alive, you, with your ability and strength, could have made a good living in town. And what about the boys? Why in Heaven's name did you stick it?" " Stick it?" His friend laughed at the farmer's puzzled face. "Bless the man, 1 do believe it never once occurred to him to do anvthing else." I "Well, there was the land, you see," murmured the farmer with a deprecat- | ing smile.