FARMERS' DAY

Press, Volume LXX, Issue 21315, 7 November 1934, Page 7

FARMERS' DAY

DIFFERENT POINTS OF VIEW | t SI'IIUT OF THE FAIR j The beauty of the show lies very j much in the eye of the beholder. There is- - , for instance, a profound difference in the attitude toward the event in the mind of the small boy and in the miiid of the farmer. Between these two lie dozens of different types, who each oJ see 111 the greatest show and parade of stock in the year something to take the imagination. It means nothing to a lot of people that the displays of some of the sections of sheep are unsurpassed by those of any other show, but to the farmers who are there in hundreds this is a significant fact. The Thursday of the show is the day of business. It is the day to which the exhibitors have looked and worked through months of preparation. It is their final test of skill in the eyes of their fellows, and during the long process of judging there is many a tenseness which can be dispelled only when the awards are known.

Farmers, at. least those hundreds who are exhibitors in the stock sections, can see little fun or jollity in the judging day at the show. It is a day of suspense, and generally of toil, which starts early in the morning and finishes only when the day is welt advanced and the stock is safely housed for the night. It is a day of business, and the general farming garb for the occasion is a pair of dungarees and an old coat. People's day may become a time in which the farmer can expand, meet his friends, display his prize-winning animals, and pursue those financial coui'ses by which he turns small coloured cardboard tickets into cash; but judging day is reserved for business. Day of Business The ordinary mortal, unless he concentrates on the ring events arranged before his eyes, or on the pleasures of Side-show Alley, must feel a little out of it. The country man is having his day, and into the mysteries, which he regards as the plainest normalities, few townsmen will dare to pry. On ! the Friday, perhaps, the city man may I venture questions, but on judging day a businesslike back bent over a pen of sheeD discourages conversation ut llie lighter sort. However, thousands of city men and women—and many more city children—do go to the show on judging day, and there is plenty there of excitement and interest. Side-show Alley every year promises to be bigger and brighter than the last, and the cries of the showmen, their quips and exhortations, will this time probably have more in them of the carnival spirit than for many years. An Old Favourite There will be all the usual attractions in the side-shows, all of them brought thoroughly jup-tcwiate except

that indestructable favourite the merry-go-round, whose shining painted horses, of colours undescribed in any stud book, exert a lure no child could resist Adults, too, looking a little sellconscious as though too evident enjoyment of a juvenile excitement would somehow lose them dignity, mount the rocking steeds and circle the garish little steam engine and fullblooded caliope that blares out the soul of the show. There is little of i lie old-time fan- in the radio amplifiers and swinging aeroplanes, but the merry-go-roond, undaunted, carries its load after load of laughing youngsters as it did 100 years ago. The country man is unempressed except when there is a question for the expert, but the city dweller is more impressed by size in the stock than by any other attribute of the prize animals. The sleekness and dapperness of all show stock he takes for granted, but size fills his mind as satisfyingly as it does his eye. Majestic Clydesdales have size and are appreciated. The cattle appear to be positive hills, and the pigs appear much larger than he expected. j The Pig Pens In the pig pens, always a favourite resort with show goers, there is to be found the perfectly unconcerned sow with a litter of equally oblivious piglets. They will be an attraction all day. In the machinery section, where the tractors ponderously describe an identical circle hour after hour, and various machines fill the air with, sound and motion, there is movement which draws tirelessly. These _ gaudy implements may be a little unintelligible, but they are fascinating. W The day ends quickly for most people, particularly small boys, who in the myriad attractions that small boys, find in anything strange, see a small corner of heaven. But parental demands must be obeyed, and so the family troops home, elders tired and inclined to look not too lightly on small transgressions. So the show grounds are left, still peopled by a few, but looking rather forlorn with their expanses of trampled, paperstrewn turf.

The Governor-General will be unable to attend the Royal Show at Invercargill on December 11, 12, and 13. The following letter has been received by his Worship the Mayor of Invercargill from his Excellency's official secretary:—"With reference to your letter of September 6. and to my reply of September 14, I am directed by the Governor-General to say that, ai'ler carefully reviewing the probabilities of the situation connected with arrangements for the arrival in Now Zealand on December 15 of the Duke of Gloucester, lie feels that he cannot wisely be absent from the seat of Government during the three or four days immediately preceding his Royal Highness's arrival in this country. Your Worship and the people of Invercargill, including the members of the Southland Agricultural and Pastoral Association, need no assurance that the Royal Show acts as a strong magnet to his Excellency, and he feels sure that it is equally unnecessary to emphasise his keen disappointment that circumstances, which are unavoidable, prevent his associating himself in person with the residents of the district and the visiting farmers on this important occasion." -