The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1897-12-11
PAT CURTIS BACK
Former Owner and Master Of
Spray
DOES NOT LIKE AUSTRALIA
Had Hard Time of it in the Colo
nies-Prospectinga and Sheep
Shearing-Drought
DOES NOT LIKE AUSTRALIA

A very familiar and by no means un-
interesting figure is seen again about
the city and along the water front
after having been missed for several
months. Capt. Pat Curtis is back from
Australia. He had sold the yacht Spray
before he left. His wife has died dur
ing his absence. He had bad luck in
the Colonies. Though not in funds
and without any employment as yet,
Curtis is not greatly depressed or
discouraged. He seems to take life a
trifle more seriously than in the old
days, but perhaps this is only tenn
porary.
Curtis only possession upon arrival
here by the Moana was shepherd dog
which he values highly and for which
he has already been offered a hand
some price The animal is a beauty,
shows remarkable intelligence in it's
appearance and action and is declared
by Curtis to be of the best coole blood
in the Colonies. Down there they pro-
duce about the best sheep dogs in the
whole world. One of them properly
trained is worth several hundred dol
lars and the work they will do in the
handling of flocks is something but a
little less than marvellous.
con the way to Australia said Cur
tis yesterday, 81 spent a month in Sa-
moa. The only white man who gave
me a decent word there was Mr..
Churchill the American Consul. He is
a fine and generous chap. Samoa is
the LATEST country in the world. There
is no work to be had there. No one
seems to work at all. | camped out
with the natives. They are good peo-
pie, just like the Hawaiians out in
the country in the Islands here. All
the food they have is plenty of that
and to spare though, and they will
share it with most anybody. l lived
| on breadfruit nearly all the time / was
there. l became fat, but didn't like
the diet
Il want to sound a warning to every
| body, excepting may be sailors, to
keep away from the Colonies. I'm a
| pretty good jack of all trades and SET
| myself up as a sheep shearer down
there. For the little bit Of trial
! had at the work, l did as well as any
of them. But it's like a gun packer
getting billet in Honolulu for an out
| slider to get job down there. Then
| the shearers or herders or road workers
| apply for places they deposit pound
note with the application and have tc
have half a dozen characters with
it. A man will have several petitions
out at once. When he accepts one il
he is lucky enough to get it, he loses
the pound if another man tells hin
he can have a place unless he can sci
the job to another fellow The own
| ers who have no work for him sen(
him back the fee. The worst thins
down there is the industry and close
ness of the settlers. Hundreds of meI
who own all the way from 80 to
couple Of thousands acres and wh'
have good farms and lots of stock e
to work shearing and laboring just tn
same as the men compelled to rom
about the country because they hav
neither homes nor work. l must say
though, that every where they ar
kind to a wayfarer and will not sc
him suffer. Crime is heavily punishe
in the back country. l saw poor fel
low sent over for three years for stea
ing half small tin of baking powde
He showed that he needed it the wor:
way, too.
Il did not go to the Coolgardie gol
diggings, but l did go to some othe
= mines. Coolgardie was said to be pla,
ed out and it was told for a fact thu
water cost more a gallon there tha
whiskey. Now, don't drink much, b'
| don't care for being in a country liz
that without money. l did try miniI
: or prospecting in earnest. l paid abo1
a hundred and fifteen dollars for q
outfit with another fellow. We worke
hard and tramped hundreds of mile
but it was no use. 1t seems that aboI
all the good country has been take
up by companies A single man or
2 small party is at big disadvantag
Australia is such great mining coul
q try that extensive outfits are prepare
8 to go into any new district and loca
u or buy up the best of everything
sight. Then there is so little wat
and food, and transportation charg