Page:Reminiscences of Earliest Canterbury 1915.pdf/216

 observation, that we not only knew every calf individually, but did we chance to see any of them up to four years afterwards we recognised them at once, and with the recognition came to our memory their pedigree. All this was of great use to my father, for before selling a heifer, he always appealed to us to tell him her pedigree. By this means he was able to produce a fine dairy of cows, for he never sold the best bred animals.

As exemplifying the reciprocity that obtained in those early times, I recollect my mother being in some straits through her store of flour, sugar, and tea having run out for some five weeks. A Hobart whaler, then lying in Port Levy, heard of her plight, and, manning a whaleboat, he put 200lb. of flour, a bag of sugar, and a small chest of tea on board, and sent them round to my mother with his compliments, adding that he would call in before leaving New Zealand, and take an equivalent in such produce as he required. This man was a Scotchman named James Bailey, and he did so well in the whaling industry that he retired, and died about twenty years ago in Hobart a very wealthy man.

As a device for spinning out the tea when