Our Correspondents.

Otago Witness, Issue 1418, 25 January 1879, Page 18

Our Correspondents.

UPPER TAIERI. (PROM OUR OWN COKRESrONDENT.) January 18th. Tho busy season has ?iow almost closed, and I presume a few remarks relative to pastoral matter* may not be deemod out of place at the present time. Imprimis, I may nota ttvit it liai jTovtd one of tho most successful (in a financial point of viww) to the lab. urinj' c'au-ea of the community that the writer has witn^so I for a n .mbor of years. The rates paid by the il ickowmsrs for all de-cript'ons of station labour Manifested an advance upon last year's rates. I shall imw eniinuato &evtral of the rates pud:— Musbererd, £2 10s per week ; wool-rollers, £1 15j do ; boys for fleece-lifting, £1 53 to £1 10s do; general bands, £1 10j do; station cooks, £3 to £3 10a do -of course staiioi rations included. The above rates t will bear favourable compsr son with those paid during a number of years in the past. Although I am n«t very ancient in respect to age, I can fipoak from many years' experience, and say that t'ae officois of tho Sheep Dcpirtnipnt are gentlemen of manifest ability. rfeveral of. the present officers) have for a period of. 20 years travelled over the lengbh and breadth of Otago in their professional capacits for the purpose of assisting by their advice and otherwise, in endeavouring to clean and bring to a sound aud healthy condition the many scabby flocks existing at one period in Obago. Is is incredible to think that those officers who have "borne the burden and heat of the day " should be rewarded in Mich a scandalous manner. I challenge contradiction when I publicly state that the gentlemen referred to have been instrumental in doubling the revenue of the Colony (in a pastoral point of view) through their undoubted ability in the matter of bringing about a healthy state of things. Is it because the plague is for a season stayed that we are to dispense with paid officials, when at any momenb an outbreak is bo bo feared ? No ; certainly not. Do we grudge the paltry sum paid at present to those individuals where thousands are at stake ? Let us keep the Sheep Department in an efficient position. This can only be done by retaining in the public service officers of undoubted ability, who have proved themselves during many years in the past to be such, through the services they have rendered to the Crown in point of revenue, ond to the community at large in respect to prosperity. The amalgamation system has beyond all doubt barred the road for an advance to the shearing element. For years in the past that body has endeavoured to close that branch of station labor r agaii st all new-comers and non-professionals in that liv*. Verily, they have hfd their reward. What can they expect when they rnanif< sb such a selfish, and, I may add, determined opposition ti other competitors in that field of labour? The Mock system, as it is termed, is a m st harsh one for the rising generation to surmount, and moreover, one that manifests a tendency to sow the seeds of discord among those whose duty it should be to cultivate a feeling of good-will towards one another. Can shearers expect an advance in the rates paid for shearing when they block the market in respect to undertaking to shear the flocks of, in some instances, as many as six sheds ? Such a rotten system deserves to be condemnr d, A short time ago a letter was published in an up-country journal, in which, among other things noted, some damaging reflections were made or cast upon the Sheep Inspector's department. From an independent point of view, I stand lorth to make a few remarks for the information of the writer of that elaborate article. After careful perusal of the matter referred to, I have arrived at the conclusion that the writer has only viewed the subject from his own limited knowledge of the management of that department. Let me refresh that luminary's memory in lespect to several matters that have not como within the ken of his "book of knowledge;'' and, moreover, in respect to doing justice to a department that has rendered such signal service to the community at large. It is manifest that the writer's views are of modern material, and only of the fabric description.