NATIONAL DAIRY SHOW

Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 145, 20 June 1924, Page 8

NATIONAL DAIRY SHOW

THE SMOKE CONCERT i •■■ • : ■■■ ■ ■ ■'• : ': ■' ' r ' ' "'• ■'■' A LARGE ATTENDANCE

SPEECHES BY' LORD JELLICOE AND.MR, MASSEY. "'.- ---\ -. . ' - ',

(BY TELEORAPH.) (FROM OUR 'SPECIAL REPORTERS.)

PALMERSTON N., 19th June.

The annual smoke concert in' connec tion with- the1 Manawatu. Winter Show took place in the lecture hall of the. A. and P. Buildings, Palmeraton North, this evening. The president, Mr. J-. A. Is ash, M.P., was in the chair. Among the visitors were His Excellency the Governor-General, the Prime Minister, the Ministers of Agriculture arid Internal Affairs, the Mayor of Palmerston North (Mr. F.J. Nathan), the Director of Agriculture (Dr. Reakes), the British Trade Commissioner (Mr. Noel Elmslie), the •United. States'; Consul (Mr. G. Anusaulois), the Argentine Consul (Signor. Bidone), General Melvill (0.C., Defence l'orces), and many others. About three hundred guests were present. Apologies for absence were received from many Ministers, members of , Parliament, and Mayors of neighbouring boroughs. After the loyal toast had been duly honoured, the. «hairman proposed the health of His Excellency the GovernorGeneral, reminding 'his"audience of the great name borne- by His Excellency as the victor of Jutland. During their sojourn in New Zealand Their Excellencies had visited every part of the Dominion, and had been enthusiastically received. They had endeared themselves, vto'the very hearts pi the people during ■their stay. (Hear, 'hear and applause.) With reference to the Royal Show, Mr" Nash expressed a hope that the first Royal Show at Palmerston North might be opened by His Excellency; and (there was a possibility that the GovernorGeneral might b e able to attend and perform the opening ceremony. The speaker paid a. hearty tribute to the sporting characteristics Vof Their Excellencies," who hadHhe goodwill, loyalty, and affection of the people of New- Zealand, who very much regretted their departure. (Hear, hear.) . . LORD 'JELLICOE REPLIES. ' In, reply,' His Excellency thanked'the president for his kindly words. When they left New Zealand-they would leave with intense regret. The thoughts: of New Zealand and the people of New Zealand would ever be1 with them. ,Palmerston North .was ,a/place one could not visit too frequently. (Hear, hear and applause.) His Excellency expressed his admiration of what he had seen at the Show, and he regretted the weather had prevented a larger attendance. He had noticed a distinct' growth in Palmerston North since he first visited the town. One of the things he had noted wps the advent of electric light. He had heard they would shortly get their electricity, from wateri From -what he had seen of the streets to-day he was not_ surprised to hear that. (Laughter.) If it.were -.possible to acceptthe'invitation, to open the ' Royal 'Show he would do so. with the greatest of pleasure.. (Applause.) ;. . ■ - The toast of the " Prime Minister " was proposed by. Mr.: M. A. Conway, past president of the A. and P. Association, in a very>fervent speech, he mentioning that Mr. Massey was the onjy Prime Minister in the- British- Empire surviving in office from before the war. (Applause.) Mr.- Conway. urged.. that the services of the Prime.-Minister'were such as to deserve a continuance in office.! SPEECH BY MR. MASSEY. ■ The Prime Minister, on rising tore,ply, was greeted with loud cheers. -He expressed regret on behalf of the whole of the people of the Dominion at -the departure of Their Excellencies. He hoped His Excellency's successor would be worthy to follow in his footsteps. ■ Continuing, he declared his belief that the Royal Show1 .would'be a tremendous success. He did not think there was a more suitable locality for the show than .Palmerston North, (Applause.) He boped_ that he would have the pleasure of being present at the ■ opening; He drew attention to the'progress of the country, quoting figures.for last season! Ihe exports totalled in value £51,650,600 arid the imports £44i401,000. The-total trade was £96,054,000, a greater trade per head than any other, country in the world. (Applause.) ; _. Mr. Massey gaye figures to show the increase in the exports of frozen meat, of .'wool, of butter, "arid cheese, as compared .with the period before the war.In regard to sheep, he wished that-they would soon get back to the pre-war total of 26,500,000. ■ The Prime Minister added tnat he. expected the next Census would disclose a large increase in,, population. He put the population, then at a million pel a halt, further, Mr. Massey paid a warm tribute to the work of the dairy farmer in furthering the progress.of the Dominion. Nobody worked harder than, the dairy farmer., (A voice: "What about the Hauraki plains?") The Premier said that the Government had ( looked into it, arid- had set aside' £25,000 'jsa first sum to assist the farmers who ■Bad suffered by the floods on the Hauraki Plains. Mr. Massey spoke also o£ the success in the.export of eggs and honey. Not a bad ( egg ,had arrived out of'the million sent. .(Applause.) ' ■Referring to the : secondary industries. Mr. Massey said that the value of the products of these industries had remarkably increased. Touching the. railways; —(A voice: "What about the deviation?"), "The deviation will come if. you.wait long enough," said Mr. Massey. They had to complete the lines tiiat were waiting completion.; then they .had to go on and make the roads worthy of the country in which they lived. Tlie . eight or ten ton '• lorry had shown that the roads''were not' good enough. They wanted something better than third or fourth'class roads.i Then they nad to \finish the hydro-electric schemes and supply electricity all over the Dominion wherever it was required. Nobody could be engaged in a more interesting occupation than the building up of a young country such as '■they were , building up in the Pacific. ' JHe was quite certain that this country some day would be one of the most irhportant and #iost influential in the whole British Empire. In .the work to, that end •His Excellency had done very great, service: ;■-.- . - -' 'PREFERENCE QUESTION. 'Referring to the question of preference, Mr. Massey declared that the preference recommended 'by the Imperial Conference did not cover the primary foodstuffs and raw materials imported into Britain.1 Every agreement on preference strengthened the ties of the Empire. At present they were doing with the Empire what the farmer did who bought outside the things he could glow himself. There were the lands Jying. idle in the Empire, and they were going outside for the raw material and the foodstuffs required in' Britain. He might be wrong, but he believed they should develop, the Empire first. He believed the day was past when Britain ■should seek her markets on the ,Continent. Russia had never done •so much trade with Britain as" New Zealand was

doing to-day, and Germany would be one of our strongest competitors. A voice:' " What about the stuff in the Show?" ,

Mr. Masse/ :"I know; I saw it. I ''think, the-day is coming when we shall be driven together to unite in our struggleJor the existence of the Empire. [Applause.) I often think, paraphrasing Kipling, ' What know they of the Empire who only England know?' They want to halve what, we have in this country—the Empire instinct." (Applause.) ■■'■■, ■ •

Other toasts .honoured were: "Parliament," proposed, by Mr. J. H; Perrett, and responded to by Ministers arid members present; " The Department of Agriculture," proposed by Mri. K. W. Dalrymple, and responded to by the Minister and Dr. Reakes; "Our Vis/ isto'rs,".,proposed by Mr. F. J. Nathan, and responded to by Mr. Elmslie and other visitors.