Ploughmen in form

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 32975, 22 July 1972, Page 2

Ploughmen in form

New Zealand’s leading ploughmen were in good form when the national ploughing championships began yesterday on the property of Mr W. A. Hood, just north of Chertsey, MidCanterbury.

The new champion will be known late today after the completion of the grassland ploughing. “It is the best I have seen in a New Zealand final,” said Mr T. F. Carter, of Greenpark, who has judged in three world championships. The 22 competitors each had to plough half an acre of stubble yesterday. Another spectator, with a wide knowledge of ploughing, observed that with only a few exceptions the competitors would be able to sleep soundly last night, knowing that they still had a chance for high honours. Mr A. C. Gray, of Wallacetown, Southland, who was a member of one of the two judging panels, said that the standard was as high as in any final. DIFFICULT PLOTS But luck was against a few of the contestants. Mr J. S. T. McGiffert, of Sefton, who was a member of the same judging panel as Mr Gray, said that there were about five plots that were a bit more difficult than the rest. The stubble was longer and the ground a little more uneven. It was more difficult to bury all the stubble, but Mr Gray and Mr McGiffert said that the ploughmen concerned, considering the conditions, had handled the ground well. Although some of the stubble had been raked off the paddock before the contest, an odd competitor had trouble with stubble blocking up in his plough and the judges noted that there would have been more trouble had it been raining or frosty. But the soil could not have had a better moisture content for the match. Watching the stubble ploughing yesterday was Mr Alan J. Wallace, who was national champion at Seadown last year and then went on to take second place in the world championships in Britain last October. He has not tried to qualify this year to compete in the championships. He said yesterday that because he had been hunting for a new farm he had not been able to get to qualifying events, and he had not been certain that he would come to the championships. Last month he took over a 280acre property at Parawera, about 12 miles from Te Awamutu.

If possible the New Zealand championships should be held under the same conditions, in such requirements as depth of ploughing, as the world match. With Mr Wallace, at one stage of the day was Mr S. M. Allison, of Milton, the only ploughman to win three national championships. TWO CONTESTANTS Although the Waimea Plains Ploughing Match Association has only a small membership, it has two representatives in the championships—l. W. Miller, the association’s president, and G. S. Baird, its secretary, and as a result of the luck of the draw they ploughed alongside each other yesterday. Once again this year the judging is being done by two panels, each of three men. Each panel is assessing a different part of the ploughing, but for the first time the three judges in each group are working together to award points. RED JACKETS Each panel is accompanied by a recorder, who wears a red jacket so that the judging panels can be readily identified. One of the men in red jackets this week is Mr F. C. King, a city milk supply fanner, of Papakura, who has been elected president of the New Zealand Ploughing Association for 1972-73. He is also president of the South Auckland Ploughing Association, which will be host for next year’s national championships on a property of New Zealand Steel, Ltd, near the Glenbrook mill.

Mr King was brought up in South Canterbury, where he was district ploughing champion for three years in the mid 19305. For the small gathering of spectators who followed the ploughing yesterday conditions overhead were excellent. It was mainly dull but u..seasonably mild, and the ground could be negotiated in Sunday shoes. A few light aircraft used the airstrip between the grassland and stubble ploughing areas, and at one stage a diminutive Bensen gyrocopter, with its pilot apparently suspended in space, made a flight or two from the strip. N. G. WYMER, of Waiuku, competing in the stubble section of the New Zealand ploughing championships at Chertsey yesterday.