AUCKLAND CATTLE SHOW.

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XXIII, Issue 3191, 8 October 1867, Page 4

AUCKLAND CATTLE SHOW.

To tlit Editor of th« Vjlxlt Soutmrn Cross. Sib, — I am very glad to see that we are to have a cattle show, and still more pleased to find that it is to be held in Auckland — in the paddock, I hear, at the back of the Government House— for I believe that will suit the convenience and comfort of a far larger amount of population than it would if held at ar^y of our outskirts. It is the presence of ti,e people we require at such exhibitions, j^d I am convinced that much good arises fror^ them, particularly to our younger population. It is well that we should, in a pro. per spirit of emulation, vie with one another, md it is well that the conceit of one man should be taken out of him by seeing that his brother settler, in another part of the country, can produce better cattle, sheep, or horses than himself, and thus stimulate him to renewed exertions and fresh appliances for the next year. I think the show being held in Auckland will also produce a much larger fund from "the gate proceeds," and, after all, that is no mean consideration in the present bad times, for the accumulated shillings are quite as good as a few large subscriptions — which are sometimes promised but not forthcoming. We shall not require the space taken up by the late agricultural show at Bury St. Edmonds, in England, 42 acres with a range of agricultural implements for four miles. If this, our agricultural meeting, be rendered as popular as possible, I have no doubt considerable good will arise from it. Letus have no croaking over the present low state of. affairs : it is bad enough to be under a cloud, and not well to be always sullen and sulky about it. Good times are yet in store for the colony if we only vigorously put our shoulders to the wheel, and each strive who can do most for the public weal, live within our incomes, and give up crotchets and fancies of our own. One great good of a cattle show surely is to discover by comparison which are the best cattle and the best sheep for certain localities, and then to go in for such stock. These meetings have a tendency to enlarge and expand the minds of country settlers. Some folks fancy that none but a practical agriculturist should write on agriculture. Dr. Johnson once ridiculed some such notion when seeing the line— " Who writes on freedom should himself be free." He remarked, " Nonsense ! nonsense !— just as if a man in prison could not as well write an essay on freedom. You might as well say, " ' Who feeds fat oxen should himself be fat. 1 " — I am, &c, J. Ceispe. Mauku, September 26, 1867.