ROYAL SHOWS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 47, 25 February 1935, Page 15

ROYAL SHOWS.

BETTER CONTROL.

NEW ORGANISATION PLANS

YEARLY LOCALE SETTLED. As important development of the management of the Royal Agricultural Society, the inaugural meeting of the northern district council of the Royal Society was held on Saturday at the Epsom show grounds, under the chairmanship of the Royal Show president, Mr. L. J. Wild. This district has been set up under the new constitution of the societj-, decided oil at the last annual meeting in June. As the result of the new constitution, the old problem of the locale of Royal Shows had been settled.

A motion that the council ask the Waikato A. and P. Association if it was agreeable to undertake the Royal Show when next it came to the northern district was carried with unanimous approval. The turn of the Waikato for the show will come in 1038.

Those present at the meeting were Messrs. W. H. Miers (Kotorua), C. E. Goosman (Hamilton), E. T. T. Leggett, J. S. Fisher (Cambridge), A. Austin Carr, W. F. O'Donnell (Auckland), D. M. Bryan (Clevcdon), C. P. Butler and Dr. George Walker (Whangarei). The council of 12, set up under the new constitution, was completed by the election of Messrs. Hugh Montgomery (Arapohue, Northern Wairoa), D. Ross (Te Puke), and A. S. Best (Pukekohe). Mr. Carr was elected chairman of the council, and Mr. O'Donnell secretary and treasurer. New Constitution Explained. The following were elected councillors of the Royal Society: Messrs. Carr, O'Donnell, Fisher and Dr. Walker. Mr. Wild explained to the meeting the functions of the council and its sources of revenue. He stressed the importance of members carrying back to their own districts a thorough understanding of the broad aims and objectives of the Royal Society, thus securing the co-operation of agricultural and pastoral associations, as well as farmers, throughout the Dominion. Subsequent to the meeting, Mr. Wild explained that under the new constitution, which had> come into force after the annual meeting, the Dominion was divided up into five districts, each of which was controlled by a council of 12 members, and of that number five were elected as members of the council of the Royal Agricultural Society. The new organisation had been brought about with a view to increasing interest throughout the Dominion in the Royal Show,' and, by a measure of decentralisation, through district coun-

cils, to secure more complete co-opera-tion between all agricultural and pastoral associations in New Zealand. It was implied in the new constitution that the Royal Show itself would move from district to district in a fiveyearly rotation. "This," said Mr. Wild,

"will settle the annual vexed question as to the locale of the next .Royal Show."

The Koyal Show, he said, was started about twelve years ago, with a great burst of enthusiasm, but owing partly to the depression and partly to the fact that membership in the Koyal Society itself conferred few privileges as regards admission to shows not obtainable by members of the local association conducting the show, membership had dwindled very seriously. "However," continued Mr. Wild, "since the new organisation has been brought about and due to the energetic work of the new secretary, Mr. R. McCay, membership has taken a sharp upward trend, no fewer than 50 life members and 50 new annual members having been enrolled s'hsqe the annual meeting held last June."

Asked as to the financial success of the last Royal Show at Invercargill, Mr. Wild said that he had just received the statement of accounts, which showed a profit of over £1000, out of which the Southland Association was making a payment of £250. "This is the most gratifying result from any Royal Show over a period of years," said Mr. Wild, "and it is in part an indication of the enthusiasm of the people of Southland, who magnificently supported it, and in part of the return of better times."