| Title: | McIlrath, James L to McIlrath, John, 1893 |
|---|---|
| ID | 4525 |
| Collection | The McIlrath Letters: A family history in letters from New Zealand to Ireland (1860-1915) [Bassett, McKee et al.] |
| File | mcilrath/44 |
| Year | 1893 |
| Sender | McIlrath, James L |
| Sender Gender | male |
| Sender Occupation | farmer |
| Sender Religion | unknown |
| Origin | Lakeside, Canterbury, New Zealand |
| Destination | Killinchy, Co. Down, Northern Ireland |
| Recipient | McIlrath, John |
| Recipient Gender | male |
| Relationship | brothers |
| Source | |
| Archive | |
| Doc. No. | |
| Date | |
| Partial Date | |
| Doc. Type | |
| Log | unknown |
| Word Count | 539 |
| Genre | newspapers, weather, local economy, family |
| Note | |
| Transcript | Lakeside January 23rd 1893 Dear Brother John I received yours of the 7th Nov. on Christmas Eve also a newspaper and a week after another paper we are getting them very regularly now. I enjoy them very much. I am sending you the Xmas number of the Canterbury Times and William the New Year number. When you read them you can exchange with each other. There may be something in them to interest some of you but I don't care much for them. We are now in the middle of Harvest and a very unfavourable one so far. We had a very wet backward Spring and dry summer and the beginning of last week when the grain was about ripe we got three days rain, then on Saturday and Sunday we got a howling Nor-wester, a regular Hurricane. They are the ruin of this otherwise fine climate. They burn up the grass so that if a lighted match was thrown down the whole district would be on fire and woe betide the ripe grain. Had it not been that the grain was soft with the wet it would have completely thrashed it, we escaped with little loss. I doubt if the promise of seedtime and harvest included N.Z. Prices is going to be low the cause I believe is overproduction and that by too much machinery. It is quite common now here on large farms for one man with a three furrow plough to turn six acres, also one man or good boy cut and tie ten acres (we do that ourselves) and then the thrashing machine owner growls if he cant get through 100 bushels per hour. The price now for thrashing is threepence per bushel (I have paid seven pence in the early days). To be a small outlandish place the people here have great ideas. On looking over what I have wrote I find I have not half said what I intended and my paper about full so that at the risk of you having to pay extra postage I must put in a little slip to say that we were glad to hear that you were all well and that you may long remain so, also that we are all in good health only my knee prevents me from enjoying myself as I would wish. I never yet mustered courage enough to go to Hamilton, over 40 miles is a long drive and by train I think it is worse. I would have three miles to drive, 32 by rail to Ch.Ch. stop there from 10 o'clock to 4 o'clock and the 45 miles by rail again (so it is so level we can almost see each other's place and yet so inconvenient). They are all well we hear from them regularly, I often wonder William will never write it may be my fault but this last few years I have been all upset and little but bad news to write which is said to be worse than no news. However give him, Mrs and family my warmest, kindest wishes and (excuse being last) accept same for yourself. I remain your affectionate though afflicted brother James I was short of room after all, bye bye. |
