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A little of the history of New Zealand.
#1
Some may know that New Zealand was originally colonised back in the early 1830's by mainly British and Scottish folk who wanted to make a new start in life for varying reasons, possibly they were unable to make a better life where they were, so they came here in the hope of a new life and a new start..

As you can imagine, back in say 1835, life was a lot harder than it is now, there wasn't any tractors and such for those that wanted to start up a farm, so everything was started and dome from scratch.. Firstly anyone wanting to go farming would have to get land, then build a house, which usually meant clearing enough space on the land to build the house.. The farmers were possibly lucky in that the land they got had a lot of trees on it, so these were used to build a house..

The downside to going farming back then was that most of the land needed clearing before it could be used, so it could be years before a farm was cleared enough to actually make a living from.. Going by what I've read and been told, many neighbours would pitch in and help each other in the early stages of getting farms cleared, thinking about it, it was a good way of getting to know your neighbours, it was also a good way of getting your own place up and started a little more quickly..

Most land was bought quite cheaply as it was bought from the local Iwi, or tribes who just about gave the land away.. An acre of land could've been bought for something like a couple of blankets from one of the local chiefs.. This has led to a lot of problems now because of the 'Treaty of Waitangi,' but that's another story really..

It's my understanding that a lot of businessmen and farmers employed the local maori to help with clearing land and doing other chores like helping build houses etc which from the settlers point of view was quite handy once the maori helpers knew what to do and how to use what tools were available back then.. It was very labour intensive getting farms started as you can imagine seeing as there wasn't anything like chainsaws or any of the other tools and such we have and take for granted, clearing an acre of land and getting a house built could take the better part of a year, so any wives had to be pretty patient while waiting for a house and being able to cook properly, and do the many other chores a wife and mother had to do.. Most of the men were doing in excess of 14 hours a day seven days a week to get settled, then they'd still have to move on and start clearing the land so they could get a farm started...
Love many, trust few, paddle your own waka.
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