"He further told us that in many houses the mistress was obliged to do all her own work with the aid of her daughters, if she had any; and this, too, where they were perfectly willing and able to hire servants.
"Doctor Bronson told him the story of the man in San Francisco who was trying to hire a maid-servant that declined the situation on account of his three children. 'I will not go into a family where there is more than one child,' was her ultimatum. Whereupon the gentleman said, 'We can easily fix that, I think.'
"'I'll speak to my wife about it, and rather than lose the chance of engaging you, I've no doubt she would be willing to drown two of them.'
"Our New Zealand friend laughed heartily over the story, and before he left us he had evidently forgotten his annoyance at the circumstance that brought him to the hotel. He added that the story would not be inappropriate to Christchurch, but he feared all his neighbors would not appreciate the joke.
"All along this part of the coast water is obtained by artesian wells at about eighty feet from the surface. Christchurch has hundreds of such wells, and the supply of water never fails; they reminded us of the wells in the sands of Long Island, and along the Atlantic coast of the United States all the way to Florida."
CHARACTERISTICS OF THE CANTERBURY DISTRICT.--VISIT TO A SHEEP-STATION.--HOW THE SHEEP-BUSINESS IS CONDUCTED.--THE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE.--IRRIGATION IN NEW ZEALAND.--SHEEP LOST IN SNOW-STORMS.--THE SHEEP-RAISER'S ENEMIES.--DESTRUCTION CAUSED BY PARROTS.--THE RABBIT PEST.--HOW RABBITS ARE EXTERMINATED.--VISIT TO A WHEAT-FARM.--WHEAT STATISTICS.--IMPROVED MACHINERY.--THE SPARROW PEST.--TROUBLESOME EXOTICS.--WATER-CRESS, DAISIES, AND SWEETBRIER.--AN INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL.--MOUNT COOK.--FIRST ASCENT.--PERILOUS CLIMBING.--GLACIERS AND LAKES.--THE SOUTHERN ALPS.--DUNEDIN.--OTAGO GOLD-FIELDS.--INVERCARGILL.--LAKE WAKATIPU.--MINING AT QUEENSTOWN.
The provincial district of Canterbury is both an agricultural and a pastoral country, part of it being well adapted to grain-growing, and the rest to grazing. Its staple productions are grain and wool, and it ships large quantities of both to England and other countries. There are more than 5,000,000 sheep in the district, besides 200,000 cattle and horses; the annual product of wheat is nearly 7,000,000 bushels, and of oats half that amount. Evidently the Canterbury pilgrims did not choose unwisely when they came here to found their Utopia.