The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1906-05-11
TIE DOWN AND OUT MEN.
AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND
GIVE THEM WORK.
Light Though Paying Jobs-Govern-
ment Takes the Man and Places
Him Where He Can at the Least
Secure a Foothold In. Times of
Stress.

On his head was set awry with
careless grace a wide+brimmed SOM
brero; his ample calf was tightly grit
with a pigskin Logging that had seen
better days; across his shoulder was
thrown a gunny-sack concealing
weapon whose handle alone protrud-
ed; in his right hand he carried a
trusty spear, as he marched with slow
and measured tread from the con-
fines of the city toward the brush
and thicket.
This nomad of the isles was not
brigand, but simply a New Zealand
er who had fallen on i'll luck, and
was striving to make a stake again.
No downcast spirit was mis-, either,
for he knew that in that workman's
paradise he could obtain employment
at any time
Yet, strange to say, no work in his
particular trade was to be had just
then, so he had applied to the nearest
Government office for employment on
a fall-back job. Hence his peculiar
equipment and mis- jaunty air, as he
started out for the gun field. Arriv-
ing at the railroad station-all the
railroads in New Zealand save one
are owned by the Government-he
presented his pass, and was soon on
his way to the district north of the
Thames peninsula, having received
from the Government an outfit, trans
portation and months credit Tor
food at the storenouse on the gum
fields.
Ages ago, when great trees grew
beside which the towering Kauris OF
today would have seemed insignlf1-
cant, the volcanic isle was even more
luxuriant in it's vegetation than it IS
now. Fire ravaged the primeval for
ests again and again, and the sizzling
pines and ironwoods gave up their
sap, much of which in a molten state
ran to the ground and then the loose
topsoil as if seeking refuge from the
raging elements above. Great fields
of tais gum are found here and there
throughout the North island, and In
some parts OF Lne SOulu
The gumdigger selects likely spot,
prods into the earth for about eight
inches or so with the spear, until the
point of the blade strikes something
brittle; then down comes the gunny-
sack, the spade is taken out, and the
gum is laid bare. 1t lies in cakes,
about two to five inches thick, and
these are shoveled up, broken off and
dumped into the sack
No foreman is there, no whistle or
bell calls the laborer to his daily toll;
it is piecework for everyone, and the
longer one works the more ne earns
The price of the Kauri gum Is fixed
by the government, and averages to
10 cents pound avoirdupois. A man
can earn SIS a day without overwork-
ing himself.
Long continuance on the gumfield
is discouraged; the MAJ who goes
there does so solely to regain a social
and industrial footing, and, if ne
keeps sober, he never fails to &C.
complish his end.
In spite of the fact that gum
digger, as such, is looked down upon
by the islanders. the freedom OF the
life appeals to number of Bohemian
spirits from England and one can md
titled renegade, an Oxford wrangler,
and more than one clerk n holy Or
ders digging up the Kauri gum TOR
their existence.
fx- M
back" occupation in New zealand.
During the season, wool-running is in
vogue, and any man VINO can push
wheelbarrow may earn his $3.50 to IS
per day running wool from the wharf
sheds to the ships, and dumping it in
to the hold, bale at time.
Beach-combing is hardly fall-back,
but is an employment needing no
special credentials, and the shifting
sands of the ocean ask no questions,
demand no references, but give up
their minute grains of gold to whose
ever shall gather them. Beach-comb-
ing-that is, washing or panning out
the black sand between ebb aad
flood tide-is carried on mainly on the
western shore. For twenty years OF
more some of these beach-combers
nave toiled for a living that at best
can be but small compensation for
the social ostracism it entails. The
sands of the Southern ocean have not
the wealth of those on the Alaskan
coast. but one must consider the eli
mate as an all-important element In
the comparison.
In New South Wales and Victoria
there are mines which are not rich
enough in gold to tempt capitalists,
mines that nave been partly worked
out. and the claims of which have re-
yerted to the Government Such
claims are Godsend to the unfortun-
ate city man of Sydney or Melbourne
who has really come down to hard
nan" He can obtain from the Gov
eminent similar concessions to the