were not awanting, and as a matter of course their efforts were rewarded with rapturous applause. Less seldom, too, a ball or dance was quietly organised, which tended largely to assuage the longings of the youth for more excitement and amusement.
More serious affairs, however, were not overlooked. Taking a foremost position was the regulations for hours of labour. To the settlers in Dunedin is the credit and renown due of being the first community in the British dominions where eight hours was acknowledged and established as a fair and adequate time during which the labourer and artisan should work for his hire. A few of the more niggardly employers were opposed to the rule, and in this they were supported by the General Agent of the New Zealand Company at Wellington, who, when asked to make the system, operative among his employés, replied that their brethren in Wellington worked longer hours. In spite of this opposition the indomitable pluck displayed by the true friends of the workman prevailed, and before the first year of the existence of the settlement had passed over their heads, the eight hours system of labour was an established fact. Less fortunate was the attempt to limit the lowest rate of wages for labour to three shillings a day. The price was ridiculous. No man in the colony for eight hours' work should receive less than twice this amount, but at the time the rulers were squeezing down to half-a-crown! a feat they did not accomplish, for with an expansion of trade and increasing numbers, the honourable employers took up all honest labour at much higher figures.
Possibly the question may be asked, From whence did the early settlers obtain their supplies of life's necessaries? In the first place the ships brought out extra supplies supposed to last for twelve months, and then from the neighbouring settlements of Nelson and Wellington, flour and potatoes could be obtained until the land enabled them to supply themselves. Then as to fresh beef and mutton, Mr John Jones's station at Waikouaiti was within easy communication, and there were some "auld Scotchmen" in possession of the place before the settlers arrived, who had a few sheep and bullocks to sell; and moreover the harbour was well stocked with fish.
A few of the early settlers spoke and wrote rather doubtfully as to the wisdom of placing Dunedin where it stood. Some
