YOUNG TIMARU PLOUGHMAN TO CONTEST WORLD TITLE

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29271, 1 August 1960, Page 17

YOUNG TIMARU PLOUGHMAN TO CONTEST WORLD TITLE

(From Our Own Reporter)

TIMARU, July 31. Canterbury ploughmen dominated the New Zealand ploughing championships held here yesterday in perfect spring-like weather before a crowd which was estimated to have reached between 18,000 and 20,000 at its peak. They filled all of the first five places. The winner was a South Canterbury ploughman, B. J. McPhedran, aged 25, of Taiko, who was making his fourth appearance at a national final He will go to Italy to compete in the world ploughing championships which will be held near Rome on October 9 and 10. Only a little over a point behind McPhedran was A. Magson, of Rokeby, Mid-Canterbury, and C. E. Read, of West Melton, one of three men who have ploughed in all national finals so far held was in third place. The national champion of 1958, R. M. Kingsbury, of Wakanui, was fourth. McPhedran's mother, Mrs J. D. McPhedran, as secretary of the Timaru Ploughing Match Association, was one of the leading organisers of the event which was widely described as one of the best organised national finals yet held. His father, a former ploughman and now a judge, is now a committeeman of the Timaru association and was a match official today. The national match was held by the Timaru association in conjunction with the New Zealand Ploughing Association. The match was held in a long 27-acre paddock on the property of Miss Mary Divan, two miles and a half north of Washdyke. The ground tended to be a little too dry and crumbly for really good workmanship, and ploughmen agreed that an inch or two of rain early in the week would have made their job much easier. Judges* Comment The spokesman for the five-man judging panel, Mr W. G. Miner, of Wendon, Gore, said that these conditions had been against outstanding work, but the standard had been as high as that seen at any other national final, and generally it had been better than last year in that there had not been one really bad plot out of the 22. He said that the judges were quite confident that the first four or five place-getters could worthily represent New Zealand anywhere. Mr Miner, who last year was a judge at the world championships in Northern Ireland, said that the winner today could have come third in lea ploughing at the world meeting. The top feerings today had been exceptionally good, he said, and there had been about three really good finishes. Weed control had been fair, but because of the crumbly nature of the ground the ploughmen had not been able to save their soil to get a good seedbed. Points posted up on the ground immediately after the match showed that McPhedran headed the first five ploughmen for his opening or crown and was second for weed control and seedbed. Winning Plough McPhedran’s win was also something of a triumph for Mr A. G. Heenan, an engineer of South Hillend, Southland, who was a spectator at the match. Mr Heenan was the father of the brothers. Bob and Murray, who ploughed into first and second places at the national final at Prebbleton in 1957. The ploughs the two brothers used that year were both built by their father using as a base two old ploughs salvaged from the Aparima river bed. After the match Mr Heenan built another "Heenan special” for McPhedran using some old beams. Some extras have since been added to it by Mr Bob Hammond, of Pleasant Point. Using this plough, McPhedran was/fourth equal in the national final at Lorneville the following year. “It has been a fairly easy plough to handle,” he said after the match yesterday. An old boy of Timaru Boys' High School, McPhedran began match ploughing at the age of 16 years when he was still at school. He ploughed in the first national championship at Papakaio in 1956, finishing fifth, and has missed ploughing in only one final since—that at Lincoln in 1957. Magson, who farms 850 acres at Rokeby with his-brothers Jack and Ivan, finished second using a specially imported English plough of the type that has been prominent at the world championship. This is the first season that he has had it A competitor at three out of the four previous national championships, Magson was third at both Papakaio and Invercargill. “The ground was just dry enough as far as I was

concerned,’’ he said, “but still it was a long way better than I first thought it would be.” Good Performance Another consistently good performer, Read, who farms 350 acres at West Melton, was third. Last year he was second at Hastings and at Lincoln in 1957 he was fifth. Read was using a plough of the same make as Magson’s, but a different model. He has had it for three seasons. A young ploughman of promise, W. J. L. Winter, of Swannanoa, was judged the winner of the new Ford trophy for the ploughman under 25 years of age with highest points. Winter, who is 24, last year spent a holiday in Britain and saw the world championships in Northern Ireland. He brought back with him mould boards which he was using yesterday. The Leader of the Opposition (Mr Holyoake) presented the Atlantic Silver Plough to McPhedran and the Ford trophy to Winter after the match. As the ploughmen went about their work model aeroplanes buzzed and go-karts roared in neighbouring paddocks and patient dog trial men sought to yard up, and these were only part of a diverse programme arranged to interest those who might tire of the ploughing. Placings in the national final were:—B. J. McPhedran (Taiko) 159.8 points (out of a possible of 200) 1; H. A. Magson (Rokeby, 158.4 points, 2; C. E. Read (West Melton), 155.2 points, 3; R. M. Kingsbury (Wakanui), 151.8 points, 4; J. R. Brown (Westerfield), 147.8 points, 5.