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SHOWS CONTRASTED

A WORD ABOUT AMERICA

MR. W. D. HUNT'S IMPRESSIONS.

-Contrast between the - agricultural shows of America and New Zealand was drawn by' Mr. W. D. Hunt in; the course of a paper Toad before the annual conference of the Council of Agriculture. "I spent a, few days in the city of St. Paul, in the State of Minnesota," said Mr. Hunt, "and went over their showground there and had an interesting talk with ..their secretary.' The St. Paul showground, is the home of what they call their Minnesota State Fair, which is just the name they give to the function that we call an agricultural show; it is considered the sort of Royal Show of the State. Iri addition to this main State Show they have no. less than 97 district or county shows in this one State of Minnesota, and these district^ shows seem to act as feeders to the main State Show. .Tho total area of the State \of Minnesota is 54.682 square miles, and the population is about 2,400,000. You will see, therefore; that it ia about four-fifths the size of New Zealand as far as area is concerned, and about twice the size of New Zealand as far as. population is concerned, I will just give you a few figures about this Minnesota State Show —they will, be interesting to compare with our various New Zealand' associations, and the figiireii I will give you will, I think, "besides showihg you the scale of the American. State Shows, indicate to you ' that even such a big society as~*that run by Our Ma-nawatu friends must look to its laurels. I am quoting the money-fiyures in pounds sterling, instead of iri the dollars that are stated in their report and balance sheet. ■ . "The showground of the Minnesota StatOiFair occupies an area of 260 acres right\*n the outskirts of tho city of St. Paul. It is most beautifully laid out with gardens, trees, shrubs, etc. The buildings are most elaborate and complete; the secretary occupies a, fine house 'on the. grounds, and Ms office is part of his house. According to their balance-sheet tho land yalue of the showgrounds, apart from buildings, was £244,862. The -buildings were valued at £192,871, and in addition to this they were building, when I was there, a large additional UVs-stock barn estimated to'cost another £100,000. The total value of the land, bivildings, equipment, aoid sundries, according to their balance-sheet, was no less than £559,427, and this ' was not including their ■ new £100,000 building. They hold their show in the first, week in September, which is equivalent to our March, and make it a sort of combined summer and winter show. They rim their show for a. period of eigh,t' days,, beginning on a Saturday and ending on a Saturday. At their show held, in September, 1919, ■which was the last show held before I was there, they gave away £20,756 in prize-money. The attendance during the eight days numbered 581,643, arid of this number, no less than. 207,487. went on the grandstand. The gate receipts amounted to £80,007, and the total takings of the show. from all. sources were £111,650. In the livestock section of the show 'their entries numbered 1201 horses, 1455 cattle, G57 sheep, and 1182 pigs. In addition to the pigs at the general show_ there was a very large number ot pigs in a. special competition organised by what they call their Pig Club. This competition wa» also hela on the showgrounds. The number of entries for this Pig- Ulub contest is not' stated hi the report that I received, but I understand it "was a large .'number, and this must be. .added to the 1182 pig- entries in the general show. In addition to these animals ther*' vraa ft poultry show with 2219 entries. Besides this live-stock, there reas.a large number 6!' other sections.

'In addition to the £111,650 received, as takings from the show the- association received £2490 far rente and £900 for other sundries, making its total receipts from its own earnings £115,039. In addition to its own 'revenue the association gets a certain amount of State aid. Tlie State aid received during the year 1919 was £13,875 towards expenses, and a special contribution of £50,000 towards th^e erection of the additional Jive-stock \bara. that I have already mentioned. The society was adding jto this £50,000 another £50,000 of its own, which meant tho building was going to cost them £100,000 ■ altogether: In return for the State assistance the society has to make an annoial report to the Governor of the State of ife doings. This is p-nt up in a book containing over three hundred pages of closely printed matter. . . . The whole impression left on my mind of this visit, to the Minnesota State Fair grounds was that we have a lot to learn from the Americana in the art of running agricultural shows."

Permanent link to this item

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/EP19210722.2.22

Bibliographic details

Evening Post, Volume CII, Issue 17, 22 July 1921, Page 4

Word Count
820

SHOWS CONTRASTED Evening Post, Volume CII, Issue 17, 22 July 1921, Page 4

SHOWS CONTRASTED Evening Post, Volume CII, Issue 17, 22 July 1921, Page 4

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