A PROGRESSIVE SOCIETY.

Evening Post, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 85, 10 April 1912, Page 3

A PROGRESSIVE SOCIETY.

NEW SOUTH WALES ROYAL SHOW. (From Our Own Correspondent.) SYDNEY, 6lh April. It is Easter and show time. The Royal Agricultural Society's Show hi Sydney is tho biggest annual function in New South Wales, and this year it is bigger than ever. The city is full of country visitors, all tho hotels and boardinghouses being crowded, and all these people from the country are down for tho show. They come down every year. The Showground is the great meeting place of city and country ; once a year the city man fraternises with his country cousin at Moore Park, where the great festival is held. The Royal Show of Sydney is the_ biggest thing of the kind in Australasia; it is on<* of the biggest in the world. In some respectii it stands unique. Nowhere else in tho -world will one find a showground quite like it, none «o well equipped. One of tho greatest retail establishments _ in Australia advertises in respect of its mammoth business establishment in Sydney that "it is not a chop, but an institution" ; similarly, it may be eaid of the Royal Agriculiural 'Society's property that it is not a showground, but a township. It is, in fact, a. model township, with shops, 'hotels, insurance offices, newspaper offices, post and -telegraph offices, and all the other adjuncts of an up-to-date town. It has fine, tar-paved etreets, all appropriately named. _ There is a police station, where aniious parents may perhaps get lost in the crowds, which may perhaps get lost in tho crowds, who ■on some days number about 100,000. Tho permanent buildings on tjje- ground — splendid architectural structures— are valued at close on £200,000 j and there are a great many other buildings, which may almost be regarded as permanent, put up by business firms that have secured a lease covering a certain number of years. Add to these the large number of temporary structures, tents, etc., erected specially at show time, and you will get some idea of the busy little township. Great retail firms display their goods to the country folk in large buildings. Ther* ie a great exhibition of motor-cars and other vehicles. There is an endless whirr of machinery. If a great firo were to sweep the ground clean the loss would run into some millions of pounds, and only a comparatively small proportion would be covered by insurance. There ar-e 1000 cattle on show ; there are over 1000 horses ; there are dogs and poultry; there aro district exhibits displaying tho produce and resources of the State; thei*eare industrial and other exhibits. This is no local show but a State show, and in some respecte a Commonwealth show. The Royal Agricultural Society exists, not for profit but solely for tha advancement of the interests of the country, and more particularly the interests' of the man on tho land. The surplus funds aro all devoted to improving the show ground. Last year there was a profit of £10,000, but since then the sum of £22,000 has been expended on improvements, includ-" ing the erection of four new and commodious -cattl* pavilions and a new horee. pavilion. An Agricultural Hall, which, will bo the largest hall in Australasia — it measures 300 ft by 100ft— is at present in course of erection, and' is to cost £11,000. The year before the. society epent £17,000 in '-improving th« grounds. And ' 6O" it goes on — new buildings and improvements all the time. There is not much room left for more buildings, jtand'the congestion is becoming rather a problem. What will it bo like in another decade?' Either more land will have to be- secured -or extra stories will 1 ! have to be puVon to the buildings — or, as an alternative, tho -society,, will 'lave .tc* go underground ! " '