HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.

Auckland Star, Volume XLVII, Issue 155, 30 June 1916, Page 6

HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.

THE YEAR'S WORK. A meeting of tho Horticultural Society was held last night, when a fair number of members were present. Mr F. 11. Brown was chairman. The annual report stated that during the season the usual four shows had been hold. The Daffodil Floral Committee had commented upon the fact that the spring show, which had been held in September, did not prove as successful as usual, either as to the number of the entries or the attendance. The falling off in the latter had probably been due to the Palriotie Carnival then in progress, while the small number of entries was no doubt accounted for by the dates being fixed somewhat later than usual The quality of the blooms, however, had been good, and many varieties not usually ready for this show, were among the exhibits. The summer show had been the chief horticultural disappointment of the year, mainly through the failure of the largo section devoted to j sweet peas, for which the date of the show was a week too early. The exhibits in this class had been both few jand below the standard in quality. At I the autumn show there had been a noticeable falling off in tho number and quality of chrysanthemums. Early in the year, the Committee had arrived at a decision to suspend the pay. ment of cash prizes with a view to diverting a portion of the profits for patriotic purposes. THE FAILING ATTENDANCE. The report went on to say that in the future there was at least one matter which called for earnest consideration, the poor attendances at the various shows; and even that held in the Town all revealed the great distraction of the public mind. No improvement was' to be looked for in this direction until after the close of the war, and it was therefore a question whether some diminution should not be made in the number of exhibitions. With this in mind, the Committee (except in the instance of the spring schedule arranged early last year) had not followed the usual practice of preparing schedules lor the ensuing season's shows ■ It was hardly to he expected, or even , desired, says the report, "that a Society with aims s„ch as ours should continue to flourish uninterruptedly while the Empire to which all iv membe rs belong was itself struggling f or existence Thf best we could wish for in 6Uch circumstances ,s that the Society SUou . d £ n . tinue to exist as a corporate :body Whale avoiding any possibility of its acting as a drag on the efforts put forth in this country to win a lasting victory for the Allies. * The report was adopted. The balance-sheet, which -was also adopted, showed a surplus of £139 the receipts for the year having been £372 while the expenditure had been £233* There was, in addition, a surplus of assets over liabilities of £180. In order to encourage competition in the cottage garden class, it was decided ou the motion of Mr. W. Satchell that in future no member should be awarded » first prize two years in succession nor three times altogether. Officers were elected as follows — Patron, his Excellency the Governor -he Earl of Liverpool; vice-patron, the Mayor Mr. J. H. Gunson; president, Mr. H. Brett; vace-presidents, the Hons. E. Mitchelson and A. M. Mycr* and Messrs. A. P. W. Thomas a nd J. W. Tibbs; hon. treasurer. Mr. H Goldieion. auditors, Messrs. P. R. Froser and iT.S. Jacka; hon. auctioneer, Mr. E. A. Perkins. Messrs. W. Handlcv, E. Corded A. J. Shcpperd, E. Stevenson, and n! •yon Stunner were elected members of the committee.