OLD IDENTIANA.

Otago Witness, Issue 1958, 30 May 1889, Page 14

OLD IDENTIANA.

REMINISCENCES OF OTAGO.

In the old days of Otagoj shcepfarming was conducted upon a very small scale. Flockowners counted their sheep not by the thousands but by the hundreds. When a maa wanted a sheep run he started off on a tour of discovery without even a map to guido him, as the Government maps at the Crown Landa Commissioner's Office did not ab that time extend very far. When he had determined on a location he handed in a rough sketch map, and applied for a run; this being granted, he was given six months to place tho minimum amount of sfcock upon it. The commissioner fixed how many acres he was to be allowed tor each sheep, when his flock had reached tho maximum. The lease was for 14 years at a nominal rent, the stock to be increased every year at the rate of 70 per cent, for 10 years, after which there was no restrictions. In the meanwhile the lockowner had the exclusive power to purchase a part, or the whole, of the run, any time during the lease, at 10s per acre. There was, however, one clause that was not quite so favourable to the sheepowner. If any portion of the run was required at any time for making a settlement of farmers, it could be taken for that purpose, and sold at £2 per acre. These regulations were very wise, as inducing capitalists to import stock into the country to supply wants that were sure to rise; and the subsequent discovery of gold and consequent influx of population afterwards proved their wisdom. I never heard of any case of hardship arising from these regulations except one, in which a gentleman having stocked a rua and laid out money in building a house, woolshed, and other buildings, went home for a while, leaving his two shepherds to manage his business. These men (so it was said at tha time) contrived in his absence to have the run declared open to purchase, and secured those sections on which the buildings and pens were placed ; being still in charge they made good use of the locks to manure their own sections, and grew small crops of wheat and potatoes. It may be interesting, as showing the effects of sheep manure on poor soils, to mention that the yield of wheat was 80 busbals per acre, with a heavy Btraw, and of potatoes, 25 tons per acre; the latter I can vouch for, as, I not .only saw the crop but purchased and used some of them; but I must confess the quality was bad, and most of the enormous tubers hollow in the middle. Our present distinguised Minister Bir.H. Atkinson came to Otago about this time, and I believe these were the sections he bought and settled upon at the Warepa Bash. DBAWBACKS. Human ingenuity cannot make a perfect law, and one of the drawbacks to this one was that persons who had not the slightest intention of purchasing stock often- mapped out and obtained a run for the sole purpose of selling it to some new arrival who had. Then there was the great difficulty of finding stock in six months in a country where there was little or none to be purchased, and where it was so very difficult to procure shipping, or even a passage to any settled colony, where either were to be had. The commissioner was very considerate, and under the circumstances did not enforce the rule with unnecessary severity, and the late Mr John Jones, or as he, was universally called, " Johnny Jones, King of Otago," stood in the gap. He could supply a few hundred old ewes (very old ewes they generally were) at £2 10s per head, or he would send his brig (our then sole vessel) the Thomas and Henry to Australia on reasonable terms. His advice was always good: "If you have : money enough to import five or six cargoes do so ; you will get your sheep cheaper even if you lose one or two loads ; but if you have enough for only one do not risk it — better pay my price and ho sure." On one occasion two young gentleman from England did not take this advice, •and spent all their capital in a large ship load of Australian sheep. The vessel was wrecked on the West Coast, which was strewn with their dead bodies. The unfortunate young men had to take places as shepherds. OTHER DRAWBACKS. . Another great drawback was the scab. Mr Anderson,'one of the oldest of the Otago settlers, who had a station low down on the Molyneox river, is said to have introduced the disease in some Bheep brought from Australia, at all events he was dignified bj the name of " The Father of the Scab;" and there being little or no means of procuring medicines, and very few appliances, the disease - spread everywhere. In those days we used to fix a sheep's head in a forked stick, by way of a bail, and dress him with a tin panikan, and it was considered a great improvement when the late Mr Fuller, of Popotunoa, invented a kind of lever for lifting a sheep (with its legs tied) into a small tank of dressing. la these days people spent a great deal of time in looking after their back boundaries to keep infected sheep out of their flocks, and when they found they were fairly in for the scab they generally took the first opportunity of the Thomas and Henry going to Sydney to get something to dress the sheep with. Wo knew a great deal about tho scab in those days. One young man purchased a few hundred sheep to stock a run, and as hf> . got " them from a notoriously infected run he pioked them carefully over, and took only the clean onen, and was perfectly astonished when the dieeaee broke out soon after, as he had been vecy careful in his selection. Nearly all the people I write about are dead and buried these many years, but this one, who was then a very self-corceited young man, now holds a high office in Dunedin, and therefore bis name is not mentioned, but as I happen to know he reads this journal, perhaps he will own up to it. . . There were no banks in those days, and we had no mortgages on our property, and transaotions being always, or nearly always, for cash, it was not easy to get deeply in debt, file our schedule, go through the court and come out " rioher than ever ; people, however, did manage ; to get into debt sometimes, and the results were sometimes curious. In one case a runowner who wished to sell off Mb cattle at a good price got into debt to a very clever solicitor, he then made tracks for the Bluff, taking his cattle with him, and it was soon known that be had a vessel there ready to ship them upon. The astute lawyer hearing this pursued and overtook the runaway, whom he partly bounced and partly bogged into giving up the cattle for the debt. They both returned to Dunedin, amicably ■* driving the cattle (for which their late owner was paid), the one to resume his practice and / the other to set up in business with the money he had borrowed f f om the lawyer. The ship, of course, was a myth. The laws of debt, however, still had terrors. One gentleman (high up the ladder) was condemned to prison for debt ; there being no gaol for the purpose, his own house was declared one, and his own servant a gaoler, and so he was confined within doors, exoept when the medical > gentleman " attached to the gaol" considered out-door exercise indispensable to his health. Well, after all, it was, under the circumstances, the bast arrangement, as there was no charge by

way of rent, or gaoler's wages, the public had no 1 right to complain of this treatment of a good anda' great man, to whose memory be peaceand honour ; but it serves to show- the primitive nature of the times. Tatu, or tnapakihi, was another great draw: back to Old Ofcago (perhaps is so now), but this plant and its effect upon live stock, must stand over to be treated nexfc month. Like many other things, it is good in moderation, but one may have too much even of a good thing at one time.— "Old Colonist" in "Now Zealand Country Journal." THE LiTE THOMAS TRUMBLE. One by one the old identities who did. service in the early colonisation of Otago are passing away. Few figures were better known to the old settlers than that of Mr Thomas Trumble, who has for many years made Invereargill his chief residence. The deceased arrived m Dunedin on'the second trip of the ship Manner in August 1850, and a» an original settler under the New Zealand Company was' allotted town and suburban seotions. ' He settled on the latter^ situated at Kori Bugb, near Dunedin, uritilMarch 1850, when he took up the Otaria run between Clinton and Mataufa, at that time the advanced outpost of settlement. In time he made a considerable portion of the property freehold, with which he never parted. In 1866 he removed permanently to Invercargill for the sake of the educational advantage it offered for his family. The date of his settlement on his Otaria property was well fixed in his memory from the faofc ! that in March of the Same year what was then' considered an alarming earthquake was felt in Dunedin, whioh destroyed a few weak chimneys, but from all accounts was not anything like as severe as some that have since been experienced. The deceased leaves a widow and a grown-up family of two sons and seven daughters. Two boys pre-deceased him, one having been drowned in the Oreti many years ago near his Winton estate. Mr Trumble I was what is termed a strong politician, and was ' a firm supporter of the late Mr James Macandrew. He took Aoine part in the management of some local matters, haviDg been for a time a member of the Inveroargill District Road Board; He was an enthusiastic Mason, and a score of years ago held the office of treasurer of the Southern Cross Lodge., He died on Satur- j day evening, having nearly attained the age of j 79 years,— Southland Times.