Costly Cleanliness.

No wonder the much-berated shore-whaler of Old New Zealand was a chronically grimy, or rather oily fellow, as described by the missionaries and other disapproving persons. How could he be expected to wash to any purpose, with soap at five shillings a bar? That is the price he was compelled to pay, according to a chronicle lately given to the light, the journal of Captain James Heberley, one-time whaler at Port Underwood and later the port of Wellington's first pilot. His story is included in a book of historical reminiscences of the Marl-borough district by Mr. C. A. McDonald. The Sydney shipowners and merchants who controlled many whaling establishments on these coasts established stores in the bays and sold necessaries at exorbitant prices. Heberley mentions the five-shilling bar of soap as an example. Sugar cost a shilling a pound. A pair of moleskin trousers cost £1. At that rate it would have been sound economy to take to the Maori mat. And if a whaler wanted to get back to Sydney, there was a kind of combine amongst the profiteering shipowners and captains, who charged him £60 for the passage. The good old times!

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