| Jan. 08 | Went to Wool Sales in Town Hall Wellington. First time that I have attended large sale so I was very interested. Prices were down considerably. I sold my fleece wool at 10d. although brokers valuation was 10½d to 10 and 3/4d. Bellies brought satisfactory price of 7 and 3/4d. |
| Jan. 09 | Fine. Enid, George & I returned home by Napier mail. Enid & George drove to Hokio Beach with Mr Clark in evening to spend a few days there with Miss Bowles, Amy, W.H. Wilson & children. |
| Jan. 12 | (Sunday) Up late. Biked to beach & got there at dinner time. Stayed all night. |
| Jan. 13 | Fine. We all left the beach for home. Had lunch in Levin. Home about 4pm. |
| Jan. 16 | Mustered ewes in early evening in preparation for Vickers drafting. However got word from him to say that he could not draft on account of strike of slaughtermen. Baths in evening with Clifford and George. |
| Jan. 19 | Stayed about home all day. Went to Church in evening on bike. Had first puncture. |
| Jan. 20 | Evening party of children for Enid's benefit 3 Adkins, Amy Denton, 2 Wilsons & Billy |
| Jan. 29 | Fine. Horowhenua A & P Show. All went down. Successful Show. Mrs Edwards to tea. Concert in evening. |
| Feb. 01 | Caught 4.45 train & went as far as Paekakariki taking bike. Rode back to Paraparaumu to R.R. Harris's fruit farm & stayed all night. |
| Feb. 02 (Sunday) | Beautiful day. Mr Lawson drove Harris, self & Mr Barnett (also staying with Harris) to beach where we had a swim. Loafed about all day. Mrs Harris & I went to Church of England in evening. |
| Feb. 03 | Fine. Came home by Napier mail. Met Laurie & Nell on train & travelled up with them as far as Levin. |
| Feb. 05 | Mr & Mrs Grundle, Simpson & Miss Palmer to tea & evening. |
| Feb. 06 | Mrs McLeavey, Mrs McIntyre paid us a visit. Baths in evening. Mr Stewarts. |
| Feb. 09 (Sunday) | Fine. Up late. S. Mackenzie & family up in afternoon & to tea. Went to Church (Presbyterian). |
| Feb. 11 | Bad news received of Scott's Antarctic Expedition, most of party of which perished in a blizzard in March last. |
| Feb. 12 | Afternoon Annual Sports of Swimming Club. Very successful gathering in spite of rough weather. Took about £111—/— at gate. Fryberg won 2 big races & 2nd in third race. I managed to "pull off" diving competition. |
| Feb. 19 | Fine & very hot. Afternoon went to Gymkhana organised by ,Beautifying Society. Big crowd & fair success. Swimming events at baths caused big interest about 250 people being in baths as spectators. Went to Mr Simpson's (Jun) to tea & evening. |
| -- Feb. | Fine up at 4am. Took 20 fat ewes & 51 fat lambs to station & trucked to Ngahauranga. |
| Mar. 03 | Miss Bowles sister Mrs Reynolds of Christchurch paid her a visit. Stayed all night. |
| Mar. 06 | Fine, up at 6am. Yarded young ewes. Mouthed, marked, dagged & pared the feet of 262 four & B tooth ewes & put 5 ewes & 1 wether in with old ewes, making total old ewes 227. Put straggler lambs in cow paddock. Good day's work. Knocked off at 6.30pm. |
| Mar. 16 (Sunday). | Enid George & went to Cheslyn Rise to dinner. Miss Bowles to Levin. I biked to Levin to cemetery in afternoon. Arcadia to tea, Presbyterian Church in evening. |
| Mar. 20 | Fine. Odd jobs in morning. Left for Hastings by 11.40am train. Travelled with Edith to stay with Laurie. When just past Woodville luggage van caught fire & was completely destroyed with all contents. All Napier & Hastings luggage lost. Edith lost all her clothes & jewellery valued at £36. Arrived at Laurie's place to find house only half finished but made ourselves comfortable. |
| Mar. 21 | Good Friday. Fine. Baths. Loafed about Hastings. |
| Mar. 22 | Fine & very hot. All went to Napier. Attended swimming sports at Napier Baths. Very good sport. M. Champion competing. |
| Mar. 23 (Sunday) | Cold southerly wind. Edith & I went to Church of England in morning & I went with Laurie & Nell to Wesleyan Church in evening. |
| Mar. 24 | Easter Monday. Windy & cold. Went to Havelock in motor bus in afternoon. Laurie & I walked up hill. Bike ride round Frimley in evening. |
| Mar. 25 | Beautiful day. Laurie & I biked out to Clifton & then on to Cape Kidnappers to see gannets. Took about 2 hrs. to get there, the last hour being along the beach. Had to strike low tide to get along under the cliffs. A most enjoyable ride. Huge cliffs 300ft high skirted the shore. Found a fair number of gannets on the rock & walked right in amongst them. Got back without mishap. Called at Ed James' where & had afternoon tea. Home at dark. |
| Mar. 26 | Fine. Edith & went for a motor ride in Ed James' car round Havelock for about 1i hours very pretty & enjoyable. Afternoon biked to Taradale & back to Hastings via Fern Hills. Passed through some very nice country & saw some good sheep. Most enjoyable ride. Home at dark. |
| Mar. 27 | Hot day. Started to bike to Taradale about 9.30am but had a blow-out when I had travelled 3 miles so had to return to Hastings for a new tyre. Got a fresh start at 11.30am & reached Taradale at 12.30 & watched sheep dog trials for 2 hours. Very interesting. Some very good dogs there. Met Smith who used to work up Gladstone Rd for Styles. Rode on to Napier through Greenmeadows Port Ahuriri. Visited the Spit & breakwater. Caught the 5pm train home to Hastings at dark. |
| Mar. 28 | Fine but windy. Edith & spent whole day in Napier visiting different places by coach. Too dusty to be really enjoyable. Went to competitions in afternoon. |
| Mar. 28 | Dull & showery. Went by train to Waipukerau to visit Will Paterson. Spent all afternoon with him - yarning. Travelled with Miss Daniells back to Hastings. |
| Mar. 30 | Fine. Edith, Miss Daniells & went to Wesleyan Church in morning. Went home through Racecourse - found gate locked & had to jump fence as caretaker refused to open gate. Home rest of day. |
| Mar. 31 | Fine, came home by mail train. Left Edith at Lucy Dixon's where Kate is staying. Enjoyed train journey but like my own part of the country best. Hawkes Bay country scorched up while Manawatu beautifully green. |
| Apl. 12 | Went to Levin to Farmers Union in afternoon & Stewarts to tea; evening Big shock of earthquake at 7.10pm. Man killed at Masterton. Battleship "New Zealand" arrived at Wellington. First dreadnought presented to the Empire by the Dominion. |
| Apl. 15 | Went to picnic given to sailors of HMS. New Zealand at Levin Racecourse. About 250 sailors there. Very successful turnout. Horse race with sailor jockeys caused great amusement. |
| Apl. 19 | Enid George. & I went to Wellington by Napier Mail. Stayed at Rob's instead of "Fern Hill". |
| Apl. 20 (Sunday) | Beautiful day. Church morning & evening. Took children round the wharves in afternoon to see crowds going to warship. |
| Apl. 21 | Dull & rather cold. In morning Agnes & visitor, Enid George & I , went to Zoo to see young lions. We all (Carrie & Amy included) went to "Kirks" to lunch & went out by 1 o'clock boat to HMS New Zealand. Had a good look round the warship & did not get back to shore till 5pm. The 12 inch guns were perhaps the most interesting, also the 4 inch were very natty. Saw pretty well everything & we all enjoyed it immensely. Evening at Carrie's. |
| Apl. 22 | Beautiful day. Enid, George & I came back by New Plymouth mail. Children went straight to school. I biked home. |
| Apl. 23 | Fine. Drove in phaeton to Adkins & brought Edith over for day. Did a few odd jobs. May & wife turned up to look at property & took a walk up hill. Took Edith back to Adkins about 9pm. |
| Apl. 28 | Evening - election of school committee. Old committee excepting 3, put right out. |
| Apl. 29 | Evening went to Levin to first meeting of men's choir. Felt rather at sea but enjoyed it on whole. |
| Apl. 30 | Land sale of Halls. Kuku land. Top price £55 per ac. Average £48. |
| May 04 | Went to hear Bishop of Wellington induct new minister |
| May 08 | Evening. Went to Mrs McKenzie's. Music & Spiritualism by Burns family. |
| May 11 | Miss Bowles & children went to Church. Afternoon, Miss Bowles & Enid drove to Stewarts to "doctor" the baby. She eventually stayed all night. Enid George & I went to Adkins for night. |
| May 13 | Packed & sent away case of apples to "Fern Hill". Picked bulk of apple crop & put in dairy. Male choir in evening. |
| May 23 | Went to Mathesons to tea & with them to YMCA Debate. Lost overcoat. |
| May 25 | Matheson & family came up & spent the day here. Took a walk on terrace in afternoon. Wesleyan Church. |
| May 26 | Went to Matheson's in evening & played 500. |
| June 1 | Miss Palmer up to dinner & tea. Biked to Church. |
| June 5 | Choir practice of Druids in evening. |
| June 6 | Druids installation & dance in evening. |
| June 10 | Afternoon I went to funeral of Mr Ivor James. Tea at Arcadia & male choir in evening. |
| June 11 | Evening went to Catholic concert. Very good. |
| June 15 | Mrs Phillips children & I drove to Church in morning. Afternoon rode on bike to Adkins to tea & church. |
| June 18 | Went to Palmerston Show. Saw Te Aute v Wanganui football matches. Junior - draw 6 each. Senior W-29 Te Aute 19. Very good game excellent passing. |
| June 19 | Took Mrs Phillips back to Mrs Edwards'. |
| June 22 | Beautiful day. Jack's 2nd birthday. We all went to Church in morning. Rev. Karl Schmidt missionary from New Britain. All went to Mrs Vincent's to dinner & I stayed to tea & went to Church. Canon Garland on Bible in Schools. |
| June 26 | Fine. The sore on my left hand became very painful. The pain seemed to be spreading up my arm so I decided to be careful of it & did not go out to work. Took a walk round the stock. Miss Bowles went to town in afternoon & I looked after Jack. |
| June 27 | Fine. Still unable to do much. Slight blood poisoning. |
| June 28 | Afternoon I drove to Levin to football. Levin-W (Wanderers?) 10 HuiMai 3. Stewarts to tea. |
| June 29 | (Sunday) Fine & frosty. Stayed at home all day. Les came & took photographs of family in afternoon. |
| June 30 | Tallied up contract work with Channings. 3 cords of rata at 10/- £1.10.0 185 posts at 33/- per 100 3.1.1 £4.11.1 |
| July 1 | Channing brought "plow" & young man from Will Stewarts & commenced to plow for potatoes. Ground turned over splendidly & should grow good crop. |
| July 5 (Saturday) | Town in evening. Practice for quartette. |
| July 6 | Fine. Miss Bowles & children went to Church. Afternoon we all drove to cemetery with some violets. This is the 2nd anniversary of dear Jen's death. Went to Adkins for tea & evening. |
| July 9 | Afternoon went down to State Farm with Willie Stewart to see plowing demonstration also contrivance for draining fixed on plow; This did not prove successful as it threw back mould board out of ground. |
| July 15 | Levin Competitions commenced. Went down in evening. Very good. |
| July 16 (Wednesday) | Afternoon went to competitions & stayed down to tea. Wet evening - poor house. Competed in Male Quartette & won scoring 79 points Feilding 74 pts & Levin No.2 74 pts. Our quartette consisted of Mottershead, Smith, Denton, & Randerson & we sang"The Two Roses". |
| July 17 | Miss Bowles & children spent day at competitions. I took lunch with me B Channings. I commenced to put up fence round potato patch on terrace. Nearly finished posts. Competitions in evening. |
| July 18 | Went to final evening of competitions. All prize winners performed Audiences in Century & Town Halls so we all had to perform twice. Got on fairly well. Dead beat. |
| July 20 (Sunday) | Wet. Felt very seedy so stayed in bed most of day. Got up about 4pm. |
| July 25 | Went to dance run by Miss Duff. Drove down with Adkins. |
| July 26 | Afternoon Miss Bowles & Enid & George went down to Levin & were vaccinated by Dr Young. I went in evening & was done also. Cards at Mr P. Stewarts. |
| July 28 | Commenced to put up fence for plantation by sheep yards. |
| July 29 | Took dray to Adkins & brought back some pinus insignis which Gil gave me. Spent afternoon planting trees. |
| July 30 | Beautiful day. Planted rest of trees. A few up on low hill & some by woolshed. Went an with fence. Mrs B.R. Gardener up to lunch & spent afternoon here. |
| July 31 | First lamb born today. |
| Aug. 01 | Very wet evening. Went to Miss Duff's dance & got home at 2.30am. Dead beat. Vaccinated arms all getting rather painful. |
| Aug. 02 | Arm very sore. |
| Aug. 04 | Planted a few trees in shrubberies. Miss Bowles not at all well — went to bed in afternoon. Children also not well so stayed home from school. All upset from vaccination I think. Arms very swollen. |
| Aug. 05 | Fine. Channings came & we sledged out posts (totara) for fencing sections on Winchester Block for L.A. Broadbelt, W.H. Denton, W.H. Wilson. Channings is doing the work, Miss Bowles very seedy. I went to Levin in evening C got certificate for vaccination & went to choir — very wet evening. |
| Aug. 06 | Fine. Did housework practically all day as Miss Bowles too unwell to get up. Children have not been to school for past 3 days. |
| Aug. 07 | Fine. Miss Bowles a little better so she got up about 10 o'clock. Could not do much so did a few jobs around house. Or Young called in afternoon to see Miss Bowles. |
| Aug. 09 | Fine. Miss Bowles up in morning but very seedy so lay down all afternoon. Morning, children & I mustered ewes with lambs off terrace. |
| Aug. 12 | Went to farewell dance to Mrs Matier who is leaving for Wellington. Enjoyable affair. Home 2.30. |
| Aug. 13 | Met coach for Shannon 1pm. went up to Competitions. Affair rather countryfied. Our quartette easily beaten. Other YMCA quartette & Presbyterian Quartette in that order. Got off pitch & tenor very nervous. Enjoyable drive home in moonlight, 1.30am. |
| Aug. 15 | Planted walnut trees in plantation. |
| Aug. 18 | YMCA in evening. Social. Male choir sang three choruses. |
| Aug. 21 | Jack vaccinated today. |
| Aug. 22 | Miss Bowles took George down to Dr Young to have his tonsils removed. I biked down. George went through the operation well but chloroform made him very sick. He stayed in hospital all night. Visited George in evening & male voice choir. |
| Aug. 23 | Afternoon Miss Bowles drove down for George. I pruned apple trees. George fairly well but irritating cough. |
| Aug. 25 | Miss Bowles & children went to Plimmerton tonight to stay for a week. Clifford brought phaeton home. Walker commenced to paint house. Price including a few repairs £10/5/-. White sashes & doors picked out in red. Put on first coat today. |
| Aug. 26 | Adkins to tea & choir in evening. Tramp steamer "Devon" wrecked at Wellington Heads. |
| Aug. 28 | Walker practically finished job. |
| Aug. 29 | Male choir at Parker's in evening. |
| Aug. 30 | Levin in evening. |
| Aug. 31 | Adkins to tea & dinner. |
| Sept.2 | Fine. Finished cutting hedges round house, also mowed off moustache while on the job. Male choir & dance in evening. |
| Sept.3 | Miss Bowles & children returned home from Plimmerton by 12 o'clock train. |
| Sept.9 | Male choir in evening. Fair crowd & good music. Channings took 3lbs butter at 1/- per lb. |
| Sept.12 | Rented W.R. Denton's section corner of Queen & Winchester Sts. to Jack Oak at 1/9 per week. |
| Sept.15 | Deputation from swimming club waited on Council re: improvements to baths. Brewster, Freyburg & self. |
| Sept.21 | George & I went to Church. Mr & Mrs Vincent drove up to Dinner. |
| Sept.29 | I paid Channings off for the present & gave extra 1/- per day for fencing as bonus (3 days). |
| Sept.30 | Yarded young horse & handled her. Found her very quiet & had no trouble. Got on her back & she took very little notice of it. Male choir & dance (final) in evening Miss Duff's. |
| Oct. 01 | Took young horse over to Willie Stewart's & put gear on her & made her drag a log which she did without any fuss. Very quiet indeed. |
| Oct. 09 | Got word that Mother & Edith were on their way to Hastings so I biked down to the train to see them. Both looking well. Swimming Club meeting in evening, re-elected vice-captain. |
| Oct.12 | Beautiful day. Took children to Church & brought Mr & Mrs Matheson & family home to dinner. Mrs & Miss Gardener, Mrs Marriott drove up in afternoon. |
| Oct. 27 | Annie went to station to meet Mother who is on her way back from Hastings & brought her round here where she is staying a while. |
| Oct. 28 | Evening concert at Arapaepae by Male Choir. Fair crowd - very successful. I recited "Yarn of Nancy Bell" - (encored) |
| Oct. 29 | Evening took Mother to concert in aid of Beach Rd. Packed house. Male choir Quartette Porteous, Smith, Pringle & Denton sang in costume. "The Catastrophe". Went well - encored. |
| Oct. 30 | Strike of Wharf Labourers in Wellington - rather serious. Shipping hung up. |
| Nov. 01 | Afternoon wept to meeting at Farmers Union re: Wellington Watersiders Strike. I, together with about 30 others volunteered to go to Wellington to help to keep order. Training tomorrow. |
| Nov. 02 | Showery. Prepared Swag to take to Wellington. Left by special :train about 4 o'clock. Big crowd to see us off. Arrived in town about 6.30. without any incident. Large escort to meet us. In camp at Mt Cook Barracks soon after 7 o'clock. About 600 mounteds in camp. |
| Nov. 03 | Fine. Paraded 600 men on horseback & rode around streets at Mt Cook to exercise horses. Lot of hooting & jeering at us also stone throwing. No accidents. Serious riot in Buckle St. in evening. Turned hose on strikers & afterwards about 100 mounted specials charged the mob. Several revolver shots were fired & three people injured. I was in charge of armed picket stationed at the school. Ball cartridge served out to me. However no use for it as disturbance died out. |
| Nov. 04 | Fine. Paraded down town in morning to form escort for new arrivals from Wairarapa. Subjected to a lot of abuse but took no notice. Negotiations for settling the strike failed to come off. Whole squadron on duty in Buckle St till about 10.30. |
| Nov. 05 | Fine. Exercised the horses at Lyall Bay in morning. Afternoon the whole camp of 1000 mounted paraded through the town & had a very exicting time. Strikers most abusive & went in for a lot of stone throwing Lot of our men struck & cut about the head. The rearguard suffered mostly & they charged the mob repeatedly & did some damage. Our troop dismounted & cleared a yard by Govt. Railway Dept. Things quietened considerably after this & the work of loading racehorses was successfully accomplished. Rode back to camp about 7.30. A lot of yelling & hustling by the crowd. |
| Nov. 06 | Fine. We paraded at Wharf about mid-day & loading was begun by members of new Watersiders Union just formed. Marriott one of new unionists "Specials" allowed to protect themselves against insult & consequently a row took place in Tory St. when our boys badly routed the strikers, several of them being struck. |
| Nov. 07 | Both days we paraded at the wharf to protect the shipping. Everything was very quiet. Mounted would not stand any abuse & consequently the strikers became very humble & quiet. Concert by Savage Club in Barracks on Saturday evening (8th). |
| Nov. 09 | Fine. Up to 3am. in order to come home by special train. About 150 left camp for different parts. Received 10/- per day for eight days on duty. Arrived in Levin about 10 o'clock. Breakfast at D.S. Mackenzie's - home & drove back into town for Miss Bowles & children. Bed early - very tired. |
| Nov. 14 | Went to Levin sale. Met Kellow who is over from Foxton for short holiday. |
| Nov. 15 | Levin in evening to Mrs W. Simpsons to see Kellows. |
| Nov. 16 | Fine. Miss Bowles & children to Church in morning. Mr & Mrs kellow paid us a visit in afternoon. Church in evening. |
| Nov. 18 | Drove Miss Bowles & children to town in afternoon as they are staying at Mrs Simpson's for Anglican Bazaar. Choir in evening. |
| Nov. 20 | Fine. Up at 3.30am. & mustered hoggets. Morgan coming to shear tomorrow. |
| Dec. 8 | K. McKenzie left property on Gladstone Rd. Dalgety in charge. |
| Dec. 9 | Took children to Sunday School Concert. I went to choir |
| Dec. 10 | Adkin got away first draft of fat lambs (240) |
| Dec. 12 | Afternoon went to Levin to see school sports. Very wet coming home. |
| Dec. 16 | Tremendous gale & heavy rain in evening. Rode to Levin. Went to see hypnotic entertainment - very good. |
| Dec. 22 | Fine. Kenny McKenzie came to draft lambs instead of Vickets who has unfortunately lost his little girl by death. |
| Dec. 23 | Clifford % I took in hay out of the orchard. Miss Bowles & children went to Wellington. Stewarts to tea. |
| Dec. 24 | Fine. Moved stock & took animals to neighbours. Went to Wellington by 4pm. train & spent Christmas at Fern Hill staying there till Mon. 29 December |
| Dec. 29 | Fine. Came back by Napier mail Dinner at Mrs P. Stewart's. Home & round stock in afternoon. Met Miss Bowles & Jack at 8 train. Enid & George staying in Wellington a bit longer. |
