Page:An Australian Parsonage.djvu/425

396 bush carpenter. By the time that his house is built and his land cleared he will find that his hundred pounds is all spent, and more than spent—he will be in debt. Nothing will be left for stock, nothing for seed, nothing for food during the time that must elapse before his crops come in. It is in such cases that the storekeeper comes in with really valuable help, if only it be properly used. The man is known to be honest and hard-working. He goes to the store, before he commences to build or to clear his land, and mentions his prospects and his wishes, showing that he has some capital to begin with though not sufficient to start him without incurring debt.

It was in such cases as these that the sandalwood trade was such a help in the earlier days of the colony. The merchant, knowing his man, would perhaps say, "I will supply you with rations for yourself and the man or two whom you must employ while your house is being built and your land cleared,—I will also pay one-half of the cost of a cart and horse for you, and you in return shall do a part of my sandalwood carting for me at a fixed price, and let me have a certain proportion of your crops each year until the debt is paid off."

Now such help as this, although it must necessarily render the recipient dependent for a time upon him who has acted as his banker, gives a really honest laborious man a far better chance of establishing himself than he could have had without it, and there are individuals in Western Australia now thriving and doing well whose present prosperous condition is not a little due to the hand of the friendly merchant who kept them from sinking in their first struggle for independence.