Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1896-09-03

SCOIS, Will SSN dI SOOU-SlZSu
with broad verandas on two or three
sides, and they are rooted with cor
rugated or galvanized iron. Save dur
ing the excessive heat of midsummer,
December, January and February.
these homes are models of comfort.
ease and contentment
In all save the barbarism of armed
retainers and symbols of warfare these
station homes resemble the baronial
retirement, luxury and seIf-satisfaction
Of the old feudal ages. No prince ever
offered a more generous or splendid
hospitality to friends of equal position
than these squatters offer to the inteii-
gent and worthy traveller, or to their
invited or accepted guest They Go
not live like farmers, even Of the most
/ wealthy class, but like petty princes.
The family is surrounded with troops
of servants, governesses, companions
and visitors. The social set is as
scrupulously organized among many of
these world holders as among the
most fastidiOus snobs of Europe and
America, the ''shOpkeeper'- which
! means all retail dealers-tradesmen,
and the common herd being given he
cold shoulder or the tips Of the fingers.
AS entertainers these squatters are Law
ish in expense and scrupulous in forms
and ceremonies.
What would the wealthy farmer
think to drive up to a cheap-looking
habitation, twenty miles from no
where" and, if entertained for the
night, he should see the ladies at din
ner in full evening dress-low neck
very lOW-and the gentlemen with
| swallow-tailed coats, expansive shirt
! bosOms and white "chokers," with the
walters and fiunkeys in the toggery Of
the evening lackey at a Washington
/ beer garden?
/ At these luxurious homes there is
! the "best of everything" not only Of
! solids, but of fluids as we'll No table
/ is complete without wine, whisky, ale
and other tasty beverages. But of
late years many Of these erstwhile
/ princely squatters have become "man-
/ agers," as the banks have closed the
I old order of things, and if I should
! venture to suggest that in no small
number of failures this "style," waste
/ and extravaganza has been a potent
factor I would offend only by speaking
/ disagreeable truths.
The legitimate expense of running
! these stations is very considerable. If
! the land is purchased, it means about
! FL, or $3.50, per acre to begin with. Ii
leased, as much of it is, the annual
rental is a farthing an acre in some
parts of Queensland, to 3 pence, or
cents, per acre, in much of New South
! Wales. This seems cheaI. enough, but
! when we remember that nearly all
/ these lands need clearing and fencing
against rabbits, with expensive water
tanks, paddocks and Sheds" the cap
ital needed as a modest beginning as 6
squatter would start a splendid bank
in our country. The man with sufji-
cient capital to raise sheep on re
/ spectacle scale" in Australia has
enough to enable him to retire in any
country outside of Australia.
In good seasons and with good prices
! the sheep station is a bonanza, out
with low prices and bad seasons /
have seen nothing in all my travels
more destructive to happiness or more
ruinous to hopes than a half-million
acre station, with a quarter of a mil
/ lion sheep, and f40,00 ovordraft, IN
/ less it would be a station with twice
the acres twice the numb3r of sheep
and twice the oyerdraft.
While the climate, soil and vegeta-
ton of Australia seem to be especially
we'll suited TO the production Of the
finest qualities of wool, the uncertain
! ties of the season leave an eff in all
the calculations and a constant gloom
over the Whole business structure Of
| the continent.
A few months ago l was several
! hundred miles in the interior, anon g
! the big stations" There had been no
/ rain to speak Of for seven or eight
months, and we drove over thousands
Of acres as bare to all appearances as
/ a freshly plowed Iowa field. 1t did not
/ seem that a hundred-acre pasture
/ would keep a goose. The grass was
gone, the water tank had dried up, the
heat was Scorching everything, and the
/ sheep were dying like flies" according
to the collCQuial expression. For over
100 miles in all directions there was
not an elevation of even a few feet.
The sky was cloudless by day and
night, and the slight wind seemed to
come from a blazing furnace, as it
filled the atmosphere with burning
dust so fine as to penetrate rooms,
closets and even trunks. The dazzling
! light of the sun that poured almost
straight down, the oppressive heat, the
eternal stiffness, the somber appear
ance OF the whole face of the earth, but
slightly relieved by the sickly green Ct
dwarflng bushes and scraggy eucalypti,
made the scene one of indescribahle
weirdness.
A general gloom lowered over the
whole country. 1 met many squatters,
and so long and disastrous has been
the drought and so depressing the out
look that few were safe from the grasp
OF the banks, and the tale was one of
continual woe. But a month or so later
series Of splendid rains extended
over that strange country, and prices
rallied in the London market. All was
joy again. The whole country was
soon a sea of beautiful waving grass,
the f1ocks were fattened in a few weeks,
the trees assumed a more lively green,
the people renewed their hopes, and
tbn "a hbitc which bod boop ca ooco,r