The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News and The Echo. MONDAY, JULY 3, 1922. THE WINTER SHOW.

Auckland Star, Volume LIII, Issue 155, 3 July 1922, Page 4

The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News and The Echo.

MONDAY, JULY 3, 1922. THE WINTER SHOW.

For the reuse that leeks tuaiatunet, For the wrong that need* retittanee, For the future in the ditten-t, &*4 the good that we cam 40.

Agricultural shows in Auckland City have never made as wide a popular appeal as shows in some, other parts of Xew Zealand. The Christchurch Show, for example, means a good deal more to tho Christchurch resident and the farmer near the city than the Auckland Show does to the AucklandeT and the neighbouring farmer, though the Aucklander might say that the Christchurch fixture owes a good deal of its popularity to the fact that it coincides with the most important racing of the year. We have nothing in Auckland corresponding to Carnival Week in Christchurch, when the country comes in a body to the town, and the two make holiday together and manage' to combine some, instruction with the amusement. Dunedin also leads Auckland in the interest displayed by the farmers of the district in the exhibition of their products in the city. Duncdin's Winter Show is, judged as an exhibition of land products, the beet in the Dominion, and a feature of it is the keenness of many districts in making special displays. In Auckland there is nothing like this healthy rivalry between different parts of the district supposed to be covered by the Winter Show, and until something aproaching the Otago level can be reached, the agricultural side of the show will not be 50 good as it ehould be. The Dunedin Show benefits by the fact that general farming is more thorough in Otago and Southland than in any other part of New Zealand. Auckland, moreover, has serious rivals in shows in the Waikato, which is the greatest producing district of the province. The effect of such rivalry is displaced in the poor quality of the stock at the Metropolitan Show. Indeed it cannot 'be said that the farmers near Auckland have ehown the same practical interest in the Metropolitan Show as the farmers near Christehureh and Dunedin, or that the people of Auckland have 'been educated through these shows to the extent that the people of the South Island have been, to appreciate the intimate eon> nection between town and country, and the basic importance of rural industry. The Winter Show that is to be opened to-morrow provides 'both these classes with a new opportunity, and we hope it will be a great success. No doubt a large proportion of the city people who attend it will be primarily attracted by and interested in the exhibits of urban industries. These are important, but they are not so important as the development of production from the land. Auckland is growing so fast, and has become bo large as Xew Zealand cities go, that its people need to l)c reminded periodically by visual means that their prosperity depends on the suece6B of the farmer. The prosperity of Auckland rests on the back of the cow. To some this may ■seem not to be a very dignified position, but there it is. Other rural industries are important, but they are secondary to the production of butter and cheese. The development of dairying has been the industrial romance of Xew Zealand during the last 30 years, and Auckland benefited by it more than any other part of the country. An export of £18,000 (butter) and £2000 (chee3e) in 1800, had become £011,000 and £31,000 by 1910, and £6,000,000 and £1.560,000 by 1921. It is an amazing advance, brought about by the opening up of new country, closer settlement, co-operation, and the use of improved methods on the farm and in the dairy factor} - . Yet very much more remains to be done. The province can carry many times its present population. There are large areas of land to be opened up, and the average yield of land at present classed as under cultivation can be greatly increased. The province is destined to be preeminently a district of small holdings. Auckland has suffered by the land boom in many ways, one of them being that speculation is- often inimical to steady progressive farming. If the collapse of the boom discourages speculation and causes a greater number of men to settle down to the hard work of farm improvement, there will be something to set off against loss. The average yield per cow is not nearly so high as it might be. More careful culling and better feeding would produce a much larger output from the same area of land. Indeed, it may be estimated that by better feeding alone the yield of the average eo-w could be improved 50 per cent. Theee are improvements that cannot be attained quickly by the farmer, but must come gradually as the result of experience and education. For the rest, the province, like the Domiuion of which it is a part, needs good Government. It needs for its rural development roads anil railways and a vigorous policy of land settlement, while both farmers and urban manufacturers are affec-ted by ■ extravagance and high taxation. How- ! ever much they may appear to diverge in respect to details, the interests of town and country are really one, and such a thing as a Winter Show gives botu parties an opportunity of realising thie truth.