DROVERS.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXVIII, Issue 7963, 14 February 1906, Page 3

DROVERS.

(Speoially Written for the Age). A good deal could* be written about drovers an J the many trying and perilous tasks they had in piloting their charges tbrougbditHoult and dangerous country in the past when roads aud bridges were unknown. Many thrilling incidents could be related by some of the older hands when driving stock to Hokitika from Ohristohurch at the time when the goldflelds were in full swing. At the Bealey, the wide Waimakaraii bad to be negotiated, and it required all the skill of the drover to safely land his sheep on the other side. • To get them across he would have to draw bis flook to some point well up "the river, when the run of the river would drift them across '*, to a safe landing. In some parts this river is very deep and rapid. Other minor creeks had to be encountered; also occasional waterfalls rushiug over.the road, caused by the hea?y rainfalls on the hills. His stock, as a rule, had to be camped on the river bed, the only open country on some parts of the route. While the drover, oiten ■wet to the skin, snatched a wink . of sleep in some deserted hut or undei the shelter of the bush. The Taipo and Wahiniue Rivers again .had to be faced, both swift running, . treacherous streams when in flood. Tatu had also to be-guarded against along the route. Many sheep were lost by eating this deadly plantin fact, until the drover had reached his destination constant vigilance and-skill on t the part of both man and dogs had to be exercised. Nowadays the difficulties, attached to sheep and cattle dri\ing are greatly reduced. Yet in some respects one cannot say that the calling of a drover is an easy one, and although most of the roads are fenced, yet the fences are very often had, and cause a great deal of trouble by sheep getting through them. Tho large amount of traffic on the roads has to be negotiated safely. Motor-cars,-■waggons, and other conveyances are constantly met with and sheep often run over. In Masterton the droving element represent one of the , most important branches of the wage-earners of the town, but the expenses attached are a iarge item in comparison with the general run of the working classes. . For instance, t here is horse shoeing and horse feed, wear and tear of saddlery, house rent, and grazing for horse, dog food, and the upkeep of. dogs to carry on the work. I almost forgot to mention dog taxes, which is no mean item in the finances of the Borough Council—a dog tax that might gracefully be repealed, seeing that drovers are purely earning their living by their dogs. Considering the importance of the stock trade, one is almost tempted to make a rather far-fetched allusion that it has not been by the brains of our townspeople that sucuess has crowned their efforts, but by the brains of the sheep and cattle farmers. The stock industry is of such importance to the town and district that every facilitation should be given for the safe transit of stock. As it is at present, Masterton stands in the unique position of being the ' worst town in New Zealand to approach and get through without valuable mobs of sheep and lambs receiving considerable knocking about. One would naturally suppose, on account of the large atrount of responisbility attached to droving, that " the remuneration would he something in proportion. But as far as I can learn, although many stick to droving, there is nothing in it, and few, if any, can save money for a rainy day. Ten shillings •per day and an allowance for expenses, I am infomed, is the general rate of wages given. But as anything like constant work can only be obtained' for about four months of the year, the balance of the year has to be tilled .in with occasional droving. Jn the winter months little or no stock driving being done, one must confess a drover's life is similar to the nobleman's, "not a happy one." There is certainly one or two out of a very large number of drovers that I know who possess freehold property, and are fairly well off. But, as a rule, the capital to acquire a home has been made before starting drovine, and these men are usually ex-shepherds with a wage-earriing family, lake gold-digging, thore is a fascination about droving that attraots a large number of men to follow it up.