The daily morning journal and courier., 1907-06-17


 more than 110 to 120 day. A good tall
 180 8 day. and Maori in the North Island has been credited with shearing
 3S2 in day.
 Tt must be remembered that some
 apparently remarkable speed records
 can be obtained under special oondi-
 tions by men who would fail to make
 an exceptional show in ordinary prac-
 tice. Probably one of the finest achieve
 ments is that of New Zealander nam
 ed Pulley, who, shearing under the varied conditions that fall to the lot
 of a shearer in New Zealand and Aus tralian sheds, placed to his credit over
 S0,O00 sheep in twelve months. The
 work does not appear to be unhealthy,
 a. any rate In such sheds as Balmoral,
 where the ventilation is excellent, but
 1t certainly is strenuous, and even at
 16s. Sd. a hundred with board, the
 worker, earns every penny he receives.
 As in sheep killing, the chief strain is
 or the back, through constant stoop-
 ing, and for the novice, or even the old
 hand at the beginning of the season,
 this spells torture for a few days.
 Though tho working day is reckoned
 at nine hours, at Balmoral it Is less,
 and intervals reduce the righteousness of
 the work The shearer is up and ready
 to start work at 5:3O. At o'clock
 comes breakfast. and shearing is re-
 sumed an hour later From 9.45 to
 1015 is Smoke or and from 12 to i
 is the dinner hour. In the afternoon
 twenty minutes Smoke or is allowed
 between 2:2O and 2:4O and another from
 1 to APO. Thus the shearer is never
 working for two hours at stretch,
 and his working day is really ten min
 utes under the nine hours. The chief
 brgbear of the shearer Is the irregu-
 larity of his employment. The ringer
 at Balmoral told me that he had
 brother who, though faster at the
 board than he was, had given up shear
 ing to accept a steady billet on q farm at 25s a week with board and ten
 pounds bonus at harvest time, The position Is this; The sheep must be per-
 fectly dry when shorn, else the work is
 unhealthy and the wool cannot safely
 De packed in bales, Every shower of rain probably spells an idle day for the shearer. When I was at Balmoral there had for some time been frequent showers-too light to do the country much good, but heavy enough to damp the fleeces Thus in five weeks there were only sixteen days when the shear CT could earn wages. Many of them shear in Australia, where the season, starting in Queensland in March and finishing in Victoria in October, is a very lengthy one, and then come over for the New Zealad season, which ex- tends from October until January. Tn the full period thoroughly reliable hand --such rarely need to seek enl- ployment-mlght earn 200 pounds over and above his keep, but he would prob- ably consider himself lucky if the weather and other circumstances per- mitted him to make 150 pounds.
 Tn Australia, the men receive from one pound to one pound five shillings, according to the class of sheep, but | they find their own tucker In New the regulation wage of sixteen | eight d. is independent of ac- and food. which are found for the men. At Balmoral, as at most stations nowadays, there is little room for adverse criticism of | the employers with regard to food. | When there is 1t Is usually the fault | of the cook. I heard one complaint | from an Australian, who was indig- nant because at northern station the i men had not seen a potato for three weeks. As to the work. he said: It's healthy enough if you look after your self, I've been at the game now for eight seasons and never had anything wrong with me, but I study my health all the time. When I go into a shed can tell after I've shorn three sheep if they're wet, and if they are 1t loesn't matter to me what any one else says or does, I simply walk out of he shed, tell the boss why, and don't 70 back until the sheep are dry. And insist on getting good nights rest and take care to change my clothing Many of the fellows become III because hey won't take these precautions Any lmonnt of them scarcely ever change heir clothes.'
 'Shearers are really in a minority in l shearing she'd for specialization Is ,arrled to a fine art, and there are many grades of assistants, As the ;hearer dismisses the shorn sheep a ad rushes along, picks up the fleece md takes 1t to sorting table. Here he table hands bounce on it. tear the icraggy ends off, roll 1t inside out, and leposit the bundle on another table. The wool classer, one of the mist im- ,ortant men in the shed, then takes 'harge, and after q hurried, but care- ul examination, decides whether the wool is 'merino clothing fabric finest half-bred,' or to what grade it's exture and condition entltle it. Then ,ome the pressers, who take the wool liter 1t has passed the classer, pack it fight under hydraulic press and fast n the bales ready to transport to the wool store.
 'The first conflict between employer md employed has been considerably modified by the work of the Arbitra- ion court, but still good deal of dis ension takes place, and one of the thief causes is the vexed question of wet sheep According to the court Lward the decision as to when sheep Ire too wet to shear depends on ma ority vote. Although the shed man. Iger has voice, and one or two oth- 1T votes are likely to lean toward the employer, yet for practical purposes he men have the matter In their own