Item 04: Memoirs of a Colonial Boy by Robert Joseph Stewart, ca. 1971 - Page 411
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was bought by a wealthy retired farmer, John Barber, who resided there for a short time, but finally it became the town's principal private hospital, which it still is, retaining the old name.
Scott, the lessee of the "Frenchmans" had recently exercised his option of purchase, at thirty shillings an acre, present title, and early in 1929 his deposit and first instalment were used to buy the four hundred acres at the front of "Afton Water" in my name, from the holder, Seaman, at a price of nine pounds an acre, freehold basis: the Australian Bank of Cmmmerce - later absorbed by the Bank of New South Wales - lent half the purchase money on mortgage.
Following my three-month stint at the Head Office of the Main Roads Board, I was transferred to be engineer-in-charge of the Board's extensive operations on the South Coast, with headquarters at Fairy Meadow, just north of Wollongong, and covering a district, for reconstruction and maintenance, that ranged from Bulli to Batemans Bay, and along which gangs totalling about four hundred men were distributed, in Governmental day-labour employment, and in addition a number of new concrete bridges were being built by private contractors under my supervision.
We were working the recently established five-day week, and every Friday I caught the late afternoon train to spend the weekend in Sydney which was now growing rapidly. The national economy had fully recovered from the effects of the recent war, and business was booming, mainly because easy credit for the masses had been provided by newly-arisen finance companies operating the cash-order system - forerunner to Hire Purchase. It was used mostly for the purchase of household furniture and associated durables.
The new motor vehicle industry was thriving tremendously, now that cars were being sold on terms to approved buyers, usually with a one third cash deposit and the balance spread over eighteen months by promissory notes processed through the Banks. No motor chassis were yet being made in Australia, but some were assembled here, and a few body-building factories were well