Thamanampalli Surekha

These remarks, of course, leg the theme of our conversation away entirely from the recent subject of gold, which engrossed so much of the public mind wherever we went, and it was a relief to hear an intelligent colonist like our entertainer revert to that pursuit which had raised these Australian colonies to their high position among the British dependencies. And as we were anxious to gain information regarding the commencement and progress of this lucrative pursuit, we took advantage of the open and candid manner in which this gentleman spoke, to elicit the following experiences. " Eleven years ago," he said, " I commenced the business of an Australian squatter, with four thousand sheep, for which I gave 4000l, including the right of the run, and a few horses and bullocks, with a dray. This season I shall shear 30,000 sheep, and I have a thousand head of cattle, and a hundred horses, besides the improvements on the stations, as the rewords of my exertions, and the natural increase of stock since that time. And if all things go well this year, I shall realise from twelve to fifteen hundred pounds clear profit from my wool and tallow. So much for the result, the manner I set to work at the beginning was to reside for a twelvemonth prior to my purchasing stock upon a station, where I gave my services free, to obtain a practical knowledge of the details of every employment necessary on a sheep-farm, by acting in the capacity of hut- keeper, shepherd, shearer, and overseer." " In England I had been educated in, and practised the legal profession, and I never supposed that I should have taken so kindly to this rude occupation; but I am thankful now that I threw up, the quill and the desk for the sheep-shears and the wool-press, for the life of a squatter has made a better man of me, both in mind and body. Instead of being a pale and slender ghost, flitting about the dingy courts of low, earning nothing more than a living for myself and family, here I am, as you see, a stout able-bodied man, browned by the genial exposure to our glorious climate, and able to ride round my run, a distance of fifty miles, in six hours, while I am monarch of all I survey. You see there is not much mystery in this business here; nor is there a long period of apprenticeship required to become of proficient in the croft. " After acquiring a general knowledge of sheep and cattle in the manner I have just related, you continue a careful supervision of your flacks, and the salubrity of the climate will do all the rest, for it is the prime agent in producing a fine growth of wool, as well as giving a large increase to your flocks. Without much care at the time of lambing, beyond ordinary watchfulness on the part of the shepherd, we obtain a hundred per cent of sheep annually, and grumble if it is between eighty and ninety. So rapid has been the increase throughout in 1820 have increased to upwards of twenty millions. From these circumstances you will suppose that there is a material difference between sheep-farming on our Australian prairies, and the same occupation on the English downs and Welsh and Scattish bills, where so much loss occurs from disease and rigorous climate. The precautions adopted by the shepherds on those bleak lands, to preserve the health and increase of their flocks and herds, are not necessary with us; neither do we require the long schooling and practical experience which the English sheep-formers or graziers find it essential to learn to be proficient in their business. By them we are considered extremely careless and negligent of our stock; which we do not deny, not only on account of the dearth of labour amongst us, but the comparatively trifling loss it is to us when a sheep dies, worth at the most four or five shillings, while with them it would be forty or fifty. " Seeing, therefore, that money and not professional experience is the grand desideratum in following the business of a squatter, we cannot promise adequate remuneration to men whose knowledge and skill have been expensively or laboriously acquired. We cannot, however anomalous it may appear, recommend this essentially pastoral country to the practical and skillful man, unless he has plenty of means to invest in stock. Some of my brother-squatters go so for as to say that the practised shepherd and his master have to unlearn their old system before they can successfully follow the new. But this I do not admit; for I have always found emigrant herdsmen or shepherds up to their business at once, with the commendable quality of great carefulness towards their charge, which inexperienced men do not possess, while we have to thank our master - stockholders who have been sheep - farmers or graziers before for maintaining and improving the fine and pure breeds of sheep and cattle throughout the colony. " From these remarks, my advice is more applicable to those gentlemen squatters in prospective, who have the necessary means to commence this lucrative pursuit. Less than 1500l, as a foundation, will render their progress uphill work. Before purchasing either stock or station, I would recommend twelve months' colonial experience, should they intend to conduct operations personally on the farm. If, however, they delegate the management of their station to a superintendent, in whom they must have full confidence, then a few, months' residence in the bush will be sufficient to initiate them into the life and business of the country. To those who are of young and sanguine temperaments, there is here a pleasing and delightful life before them, with a