VALUE OF SHOWS

Dominion, Volume 25, Issue 223, 16 June 1932, Page 15

VALUE OF SHOWS

Fostering Competitive Spirit

PRESIDENT’S VIEWS

The opinion that no other farmers’ organisation was doing so much for the primary producers of the Dominion as the Agricultural and Pastoral Associations, whose competitive showing made it necessary for almost every farmer, whether an exhibitor or not, to strive to improve the quality and standard of his stock and farm produce, was expressed by the president of the Manawatu and West Coast Agricultural and Pastoral Association in an interview concerning the part played by agricultural and pastoral shows in iostering the primary industries of New Zealand.

“IPHE serious economic crisis through which the producers in New Zealand, as well as in every other country, are passing, Is not by. any means the first depression that has hit us. And no doubt it will not be the last, but this depression has been accentuated by the reaction after the war. the partial collapse of monetary standards, and, above all, by the tariff barriers to trade that every country has erected,” said Mr. Eliott. “During periods of either pros-

perity or depression most people - are prone to lose the true perspective of the then existing conditions, or, in other words, they become too optimistic or too pessimistic. "in the boom years up to 1930 it was frequently stated that prices of commodities h a d reached a permanently higher level (owing to altered standards of living) from which they would not recede — now one often hears the remark that prices are on a more or less fixed lower basis, from which there can

IYUHJIt bUVIV VUU be little or no recovery. Both the optimists and the pessimists are wrong; there can be no fixed standard of living, nations and individuals live according to their income or purchasing power, whether it be in prosperity or the reverse. ‘■The optimists of the boom years, many of whom were led away to speculate in land, or shares, or business operations at ridiculous prices, are now suffering the consequences, and are loudest in their cries that there will be no recovery. But just us surely as the sun rises in the morning after setting at night will world economic conditions alter agaiu. The 2/- per lb. for wool, 1/- per lb. for lamb, and 2/- per lb. for butter in the boom years were fictitious values, and could not last. In the same way the present -Id to 5d per lb. for wool and fat lambs, and Od. to ]Od. for butter-fat are at the other end of the swing of the iiendulum, and cannot xeuutiu ao.

“An improvement and stability of prices will sooner or later be readied, perhaps sooner than expected, and this will be somewhere between the two extremes. The prudent business man endeavours to put his house in order to meet any eventualities, and in the same way it behoves every producer to prepare for the future; the man who is ready to take prompt advantage of improvement when it comes will reap the benefit, whilst his neighbour who can-

not or. will not look ahead will be left behind. “Fanning i s every day becoming more and more a science with various specialised sections, such as dairying lamb-fattening, sheep-b r e e <1 i n g, fruitgrowing, agriculture, and so on, and science in all its branches plays a m ore important part than ever before. The research work of the specialised scientist must walk hand-in-hand with the practical work of the specialised farmer. A g r i e ul t u ral show s are of the greatest benefit in keeping the farmer abreast

of the times, by enabling him to see the exhibition of latest improvements in machinery, new inventions, and methods of manufacturing as well as the results of experiments and experience in fertilisers and pastures, improved breeding of live stock, and methods of combating diseases in animals and plant life, etc. It, therefore, behoves every farmer to support agricultural and pastoral associations in every way possible; this support is even more essential now than in more prosperous times. “History proves that the many periods of depression which have occurred in the past when everything looked as black and seemingly unending as it possibly could, were inevitably followed by recovery and prosperity. Those farmers who keep in touch with conditions which are altering almost from day to day, and which A. and I‘. shows help to exemplify, will be the iirst to benefit by the return to more norma] iUuea.’!