ot hampered by the
necessity of making a living as they go along. They can afford to wait
until the farm is in thorough working order before they expect any
returns from it.

Not many of this class have settled in the North. When a man has large
capital, his chief idea is sheep or cattle. And he is not impressed with
the notion of making a home, but with the desire to make a great pot.
So, if he comes to New Zealand, he goes South as a general thing, and
leases a vast run of natural pasturage. In ten or twenty years he has
made his pile, and gives up farming altogether. Then he either goes
home, or settles down in one of our cities.

We were circumstanced very differently from that. When we made up our
minds to work for ourselves, instead of acting as labourers to others,
we were not blessed with much capital. Our joint purse contained just
enough, as we calculated, and it did not contain more. But our notion
was to make ourselves a comfortable home, primarily, though, of course,
we had our golden dreams as well.

The bulk of the land in the North Island belongs to the Maori tribes,
who sell tracts of it to Government or private individuals occasionally.
In the South Island all the waste land is the property of the Crown--a
nice little estate of about the size of England and Wales. Most of the
Kaipara district belonged to the Ngatewhatua tribe when we came on the
scene; and the early settlers bought their stations from them.

We had our korero with the chiefs, and arranged to purchase a block, or
section of a block rather, on the Pahi. We selected our location--from
such a creek to such a creek, and back from the river as far as such and
such a range. We offered ten shillings an acre for it, the then
market-price. The chief said, "Kapai!" and so that was settled.

Then we got up the Government surveyor for the district, and to it we
went with billhook and axe, theodolite and chain, fixing the boundaries
and dimensions of our slice of forest. Said the surveyor, after plotting
and planning and making a map, "There you are! Two thousand and
twenty-one acres, two roods and a half!" "Right," said we; and proceeded
to the next business.

A Land Court was held by the Crown official at Helensville. Thither
proceed the Ngatewhatua chiefs, with the surveys and maps of the section
we had chosen. They make out their claim to the land, according to
established usage, and receive a Crown grant as a legal title. This is
then pr