YESTERDAY AT THE SHOW

Press, Volume LXXXVI, Issue 26266, 10 November 1950, Page 6

YESTERDAY AT THE SHOW

Many Visitors From City

MACHINERY EXHIBITS POPULAR

Agricultural and pastoral shows in Christchurch usually consist of Judging Day and People’s Day and each has special characteristics. Because this year's show is a Royal show extending over three days, yesterday was neither People’s Day nor Judging Day. If anything it was near the former, for the local primary schools were given a holiday and many parents took their families to the show .so that they would avoid the crush and scramble of to-day. There was plenty to interest all. Some of the best sheep, cattle, horses, and pigs in the country were on display and the machinery section was larger than ever before. Country children tried eagerly to persuade their fathers to buy the labour-saving machines of their fancy, while the children of the town queued for the privilege. of sitting in the driver’s seat of the most modern tractors and other implements. After the Gdvernor-General (Sir Bernard Freyberg) had officially opened the show there was a parade of cattle in the ring and later there were the jumping events which never fail to attract a large crowd of admirers. There was some excellent horsemanship shown and the applause was well merited. The grand parade will be held to-day. There was a steady stream of visitors to the tents containing special and industrial exhibits, and other attractions which were well patronised were the floral display of the Horticultural Society and the poultry show. Some complained jokingly that the npise in the large marquee containing the poultry was too much for them, but there was an even greater noise in store for them when they visited the centennial show of the Canterbury Kennel Club. High-pitched yelps and deep barks from the dog show not only deafened those attending the kennel club’s show but could be heard over a wide area of the Show Grounds. However, all those who paid a visit to the dog show were well rewarded, for in the show were some of the best dogs in Canterbury, and dogs of every breed. The Side Shows A large placard at the entrance to “side show alley’’ invited visitors to see shrunken human heads seized from the savages of the wilds of Ecuador. There was an absence of freaks—and a welcome absence—at the side shows this year and more variety shows. Parents were surprised an/d somewhat perturbed to find that for most of the sideshows they had to pay 12s for each of their children ana 3s for themselves, but none of the sideshows seemed to be without patrons. Whether to see a “snake that played cards” or “motor-cyclists defying death” there always seemed to be a queue outside the side show tents, making the services of the “barkers” almost unnecessary. In fact, they might well have been dispensed with, for each had a loudspeaker and the resulting noise, added to the dust of the “alley?’ drove more people away than it attracted.

An even greater attraction than the side shows for many children, and one which required no dipping into pockets,' was the demonstration of shearing which was conducted every hour by a commercial exhibitor. Many children, and even some adults, had ndt seen shearing before and were eager spectators, even returning for a second and third view.

Traffic arrangements worked smoothly, although many patrons who arrived in the afternoon found that they might just as well have left their cars at home so far from the grounds were the parking places. The grounds themselves were filled with cars by 11 a.m.

St. John Ambulance workers were scattered around the grounds, but they did not have an arduous day. The weather was fairly cool and no faintings were reported, and there were no falls from horses in the ring. One clinic had only one case during the day—a boy who had been bitten fairly severely by a dog—and another treated several cases of cut fingers.