George Bracher to W S Hall, 9 July 1879
| Title: | George Bracher to W S Hall, 9 July 1879 |
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| Identifier: | archives.org.au/George_Bracher_to_W_S_Hall,_9_July_1879 |
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| Date: | |
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| Format and extent: | |
| License: |  This work is free of known copyright restrictions.
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| Related people: | George Bracher · William Shakespeare Hall |
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| Keywords: | Transcriptions by Ian Berryman |
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File: George_Bracher_1879_07_09.doc File:George_Bracher_1879_07_09.pdf
2010 January 29: typed by IB from an undated typescript, and checked against MS.
Note: this letter is written on a single sheet of paper 7.8 by 9.9 inches (200 by 250 mm), folded once to give four pages 4.9 by 7.8 inches, all ‘crossed’. There is no signature on the letter; I suspect that it was continued on another sheet, which is now missing.
Transcription
Victoria, Footscray
July 9 1879
Dear Shake
We were very sorry to hear of your distressed circumstances we know what it is ourselves, Sarah has sent you Two Pounds by P O order on Fremantle we could not get one on Cossack because there is no money order office there, it is a very small amount to send such a distance & we would willingly send a great deal more, but we have been very close pushed for a long time & at the present time we are doing very little in fact we are living by our wits, 12 months ago we came down here to live with George as he was apprenticed in Melbourne & at that time had a few more months to serve but last September we had an offer from a Gent at Echuca to go there and manage a Restaurant he living himself on a Farm 16 miles on the N S Wales side the agreement was we were to be found in every thing Sarah was to have a Pound a week & I was to have a Commission or Salary which was to be agreed upon after we got there but we had to pay our own expenses up, a fortnight after he went away to Sydney & remained 5 weeks so when he came back he made no offer of commission or salary, what I had to do was to superintend the House & sell vegetables Wholesale & Retail which he grew & brought in from the Farm twice a week, well then he thought I could make more of them by taking them round in a Trap 3 times a week, so then I struck & said I would not agree to anything of the sort until I knew how I was to be paid for my services so I demanded 10/- P Week for 5 weeks whilst he was away & 7½ P cent on all future sales so that was agreed upon I paid myself out of the proceeds, I went once round with the Trap which as I told him before hand would be a failure & so it was, my commission only averaged about 6/- P week but I made it up another way, we had a large underground cellar which was not used for anything so I set to work & made a lot of Efervessing Cider from Essence of Apples bottled it in pint bottles which I bought at 2/- P gross corked, tied, labelled & capsuled. Labelled it Bracher’s Superior Champayne Cider & sold it wholesale at 3/- P dozen this I did on my own account, I used to make a Hogshead at a time let it stand to ripen 3 weeks, then bottle & lay the bottles on their side 3 weeks more to get up in addition to what I sold wholesale I used to sell it retail in the shops 3d P large glass but I bottled the whole of it, I used to take from 7/- to 15/- P week in this way altogether I sold in the season between 2 & 300 dozen it paid very well it stood me in a little under 1/3 P dozen for which I got 3/- I did all the work myself. We were engaged for 6 months but trade was so bad that we could not make the House pay expenses so when our time was up he was owing Sarah 11£ & he wanted me to take something off but I could not [indecipherable] it, for it cost us 7£ to get there & 4£ to come back again, so we waited 3 weeks without Sarah’s pay until he Lett the place, then there was about £4 due that he tried to Humbug me out of, so last of all I told him I would not go out of the House till I was paid & he handed me the amount in less than 10 minutes after saying that he had not got the money, & had 2 Cheques in his pocket all the time, so last March we came back to the same House we left, when we went to Echuca we left all our Furniture with George & he got married, so he got the house already furnished to bring his wife into when we came back Georges wife was living in it & he had just gone to Geelong to work at his Trade where he is still for the present & his wife is with us. She was confined last week of a daughter, they are both doing well but she poor thing had a hard time of it she was in Labor from 10 o’clock on Friday night till 4 PM on Saturday then I had to go to Melbourne & fetch an extra Dr & they brought the little thing away with Forseps & under Cloroform but the little dear came all safe & sound at last, I am feeding & killing a few Pigs for Bacon the other day I bought a lot of small ones to sell to my neighbours at a Profit when all of a sudden one of my neighbours without any warning or disturbance of any kind laid an information against me for having more than the Law allowed so I was summoned into Court for keeping more than 3 & fined 10/- and 2/6 costs & only allowed 2 days to clear them out so I sold some at a Profit & some at a Loss so now every few weeks when I can raise the wind I go to the Auction & buy 2 or 3 Fat ones from 150 to 300 lb each they cost me from 3d to 3½d P lb & I get from 7d to 9d P lb for the Bacon cured & smoked so that pays very well but I want more Capital to do much at it in addition to this we make Tomato Sauce & a few Pickles but the Weather is too cold at present for much sale but they will go of in another 2 or 3 months the Cider I make will keep for 12 months.
I would advise you to write to William Henry Taylor at Kangaroo flat Sandhurst & ask him for the money which he borrowed from you or Henry, about 4 or 5 years ago his Father died & left him about 400£ & about 1 year since his Maiden Sister died & left him about the same amount he has money laid by at the present time & if you don’t write to him he will never pay it & if he does not answer your Letter send him a threatening one for he is not very honest in that respect.
And now Shake I will give you what I have refused to sell or give to any man in the Colony one man offered to give me anything I asked in reason for it & be bound under a bond not to make it within 100 miles of me but I positively refused. I hope before you receive this your circumstances will be improved adverse circumstances are very hard to bear particularly when there is a young family, but there is a glorious inheritance for us on the other side of Jordan & we do not know how soon we shall have to cross it, but if we are reconciled to God through our blessed Lord & Saviour Jesus Christ he will guide us across & land us safe in the Heavenly Canaan & my earnest prayer is if you have not the Testimony that all your sins are blotted out by the blood of Christ you may have no rest until you find rest in a Crucified Redeemer.
