respondence with the Association clearly points out the difficulty in which he found himself. The majority of the land purchasers, the Canterbury Pilgrims, had no experience of sheep-farming, nor did they possess the capital or enterprise to embark in it. They were content with small holdings of agricultural land near the towns. But on the other hand, there was a class of emigrant with money and experience, anxious to undertake this important branch of settlement, Australian stock-holders, nicknamed the “Shagroons.” These men, barred out of the Canterbury Association’s block, were rapidly establishing themselves beyond its boundaries. “Mr. Rhodes has just driven 5,000 of his sheep to a run just outside our block,” wrote Mr. Godley, in one of his letters, “and several of the Canterbury settlers who are going to invest in stock meditate following his example.” Something had to be done, or the Canterbury block would remain waste land, while the country around would be settled. Mr. Godley solved the difficulty by preparing fresh regulations admitting the “Shagroons” to the settlement on terms acceptable to them, and submitting the proposed regulations to the Council of Land Purchasers, who, recognising the urgent necessity of the case, agreed to them.
Mr. FitzGerald, in his “Memoir of J. R. Godley,” said:—
“He took upon himself at once to reverse the regulations of the Association, and to establish new ones applicable to the circumstances of the colony. But even then he would not violate the most cherished political principle of his life—the responsibility of those in power to the people for whose benefit power is held in trust. There had been established a Society consisting of all the land purchasers, which formed at starting something like a representative body of the resident colonists. Mr. Godley submitted to the Land Purchasers’ Society a set of regulations for squatting: undertaking to put
