第23章 CHAPTER VI(1)

Hut--Cadets--Openings for Emigrants without Capital--For those who bring Money--Drunkenness--Introductions--The Rakaia--Valley leading to the Rangitata--Snow-grass and Spaniard--Solitude--Rain and Flood--Cat--Irishman--Discomforts of Hut--Gradual Improvement--Value of Cat.

I am now going to put up a V hut on the country that I took up on the Rangitata,meaning to hibernate there in order to see what the place is like.I shall also build a more permanent hut there,for I must have someone with me,and we may as well be doing something as nothing.Ihave hopes of being able to purchase some good country in the immediate vicinity.There is a piece on which I have my eye,and which adjoins that I have already.There can be,I imagine,no doubt that this is excellent sheep country;still,I should like to see it in winter.

June,1860.--The V hut is a fait accompli,if so small an undertaking can be spoken of in so dignified a manner.It consists of a small roof set upon the ground;it is a hut,all roof and no walls.I was very clumsy,and so,in good truth,was my man.Still,at last,by dint of perseverance,we have made it wind and water tight.It was a job that should have taken us about a couple of days to have done in first-rate style;as it was,I am not going to tell you how long it DID take.Imust certainly send the man to the right-about,but the difficulty is to get another,for the aforesaid hut is five-and-twenty miles (at the very least)from any human habitation,so that you may imagine men do not abound.I had two cadets with me,and must explain that a cadet means a young fellow who has lately come out,and who wants to see a little of up-country life.He is neither paid nor pays.He receives his food and lodging gratis,but works (or is supposed to work)in order to learn.

The two who accompanied me both left me in a very short time.I have nothing to say against either of them;both did their best,and I am much obliged to them for what they did,but a very few days'experience showed me that the system is a bad one for all the parties concerned in it.The cadet soon gets tired of working for nothing;and,as he is not paid,it is difficult to come down upon him.If he is good for anything,he is worth pay,as well as board and lodging.If not worth more than these last,he is simply a nuisance,for he sets a bad example,which cannot be checked otherwise than by dismissal;and it is not an easy or pleasant matter to dismiss one whose relation is rather that of your friend than your servant.The position is a false one,and the blame of its failure lies with the person who takes the cadet,for either he is getting an advantage without giving its due equivalent,or he is keeping a useless man about his place,to the equal detriment both of the man and of himself.It may be said that the advantage offered to the cadet,in allowing him an insight into colonial life,is a bona-fide payment for what work he may do.This is not the case;for where labour is so very valuable,a good man is in such high demand that he may find well-paid employment directly.When a man takes a cadet's billet it is a tolerably sure symptom that he means half-and-half work,in which case he is much worse than useless.There is,however,another alternative which is a very different matter.Let a man pay not only for his board and lodging,but a good premium likewise,for the insight that he obtains into up-country life,then he is at liberty to work or not as he chooses;the station-hands cannot look down upon him,as they do upon the other cadet,neither,if he chooses to do nothing (which is far less likely if he is on this footing than on the other),is his example pernicious--it is well understood that he pays for the privilege of idleness,and has a perfect right to use it if he sees fit.I need not say that this last arrangement is only calculated for those who come out with money;those who have none should look out for the first employment which they feel themselves calculated for,and go in for it at once.