THE GOVERNOR AT THE SHOW.

Evening Star, Issue 14634, 2 August 1911, Page 10

THE GOVERNOR AT THE SHOW.

The following address, delivered by Lord Islington at tho Show' yesterday •:it«niooii, did not appear in our. liountry edition : ■'' Hi 3 Excellency, who was received with loud and continued applause, said that in loaning there this afternoon to perform the opening ceremony he could assuro them 'that he had experienced the liveliest satis--1 action not only in regard to the oppor ? tanity afforded'kirn in visiting once more the Citv of Dunedin. but also hi- reg»Td|trt the opportunity tinder singularly favorable jonditions of coming in contact with so many representative "agriculturists, both in the "neighborhood of this province and the provinces of the southern portion of the Dominion. "Ladies and geutlcmen,;it is a matter of very great regret indeed that' !!iv visits to Dunedin are" not more frefjiient, and that when they occur (.hey are not of longer duration." Were iVpossfble, ;-.<■ Governor of New Zealand, lie should life to bo able to distribute his visits to the head centres of the l>?romion more «'v«u!v and with greater impartiality' of election. But. as they would readily understand, the distance and circumstances connected with his official position rendered that impossible. The importance? nrd reputation., of • the Otago. Society: in connection with the Winter ! Show had for some time past been well : known to him. He was therefore in no , vvnv surprised at what he had seen and j *v ith what ho had had an opportunity of | examining this morning in the exhaustive ; visit x'-aiil by the courtesy of the president j •>i the society. He should like to oiler : most cordially his warm congratulations to the association upon the rapidity and the .-Uveess with which they had been able t» replace the huilding destroyed. They hid erected magnificent new premises, which were most suitable for tho purpose fm- which they had been erected. Ho -n-i.iuid not attempt in his remarks exhaustively to dilate on the many interesting exhibits, all of an instructive, character, which he had the pleasure of examiningthis raornin-z. Perhaps, however, ho might be permitted to offer his congratulations to Mr Willocks upon that very admirable exhibit which they would presently be able to sec. and which repre-.-etile'd to all who saw it. and to . the whole Dominion, what could bo done upon a comparatively small agricultural area by a man of imagination, initiative, and enterprise. (Applause.) He would make •no other allusion to what he had seen, but he could not help congratulating someone -he believed it was a lady, though he did not know her name —who had ».- a marvellous method of design erected ■> must, beautiful butter trophy of Moral ••huracter. For delicacy- of design, for Knowledge of botany, he"had never before seen anything to come up to it. He believed the tirst Winter Show took place iu Dimedin in 1893, and he believed he was right in saying it was the tirst Winter Show of that character held in New Zealand. Since then many Winter Shows had hdT. established in different parts of New Zealand. Many agricultural districts had taken the admiral}!:' example which the Dunedin Society had set upon that occa-'j -ion. ■ Winter Shows were estnb- ;

lisheil with the main and chief object of j-tinmlatintf competition in excellence of rtandard of agricultural products, and in as large a group of farmers us possible t<> attain that excellence of *tundaid. He was \ery glad to bee this show that they had not confined themselves to competition, but that they set Kteat store by ottering in a variety of ways added instruction and information" to'agrifulturists in the work in which they were ■tcupied. Anyone who used his best abilities in examining the different exhibits would undoubtedly derive immense profit and advantage. He was also glad to hear thnt in the course of the week of this >how there were to be offered to agriculturists an opportunity of listening to lectures upon scientific branches of agriculture from thoso who were thoroughly conversant with the matter, and who were therefore competent to give true instruction in that direction. He was also giad to hear that those lectures were thoroughly appreciated, and numerously attended by farmers who came to Dunedin. (Applause.) He next referred to the (society's ufft-r to scholars in the higher standards ■ ■f the public schooU to come to tho show with their instructor*!, and so derive. at the earliest possible au'e all the benefit that was possible in being instructed in the rudiments and principles of sound agriculture. During the time he bid been Governor of thin Dominion it had been his £ood fortune to come into close contact vvith many agriculturists in all parte of the Dominion. ;md to attend many of liietv shown, both hi cummer and winter, lie had had ;i very great advantage in meeting a large number of u-gricul-turi««s. <it;<J alto jn eeeirt:r the results of their labors upon the kind, a<s shown at the different bhowe.. Now, anyone like himself, who had been iutimateh- aseociarted for many years pus-t in "tho Old Country with agricultural pursuits, could with perf<<ct truth that of all the ,'lutics (and they wore numerous) he was Miled upon to perform hi hit tapacitv as JovernoT, there was none that gave "him p-eater satisfaction than thoeo concerned nth agriculture. (Applause.) He thought 3iat. they would follow him when he said :iiat a.-, Governor of this Dominion, and .'■r the time being as representative of His Majesty King George, and being, us .t were, the living link between this distant and loyal Dominion and the other ■arts of the British Empire, it was dutv inrl h:s pleasure to do what he could to and ont what were the real fundamental actors which went towards the advance--nent. and progress of the well-being of the v-ople of this Dominion. And once saiismd as to what these factors might be to &ay. as far as ho could' within constitutional limits, all he could to influence by svmpathy and support towards the furtherance and progress of these factors fnr the benefit of the Dominion. That was why he nevor missed, if fie m'dlv could heln it. any opportunitv of a'ttwidirio: agricultural in the different parts of the Dominion, and minirling as rloselv as he- could with those who were m that industry, and doing what t-iy in his power, -by direct :uk] -indirect means, to stimulate and encourage* them in the work in which thev were cmraged. And he did this because, he wanted them to feel how fully he icaiised that their ,iu- , dustry was the chief foundation of New ZealandV wealth, and if iie could stillv further impress that fact upon the people ! whom he had the advantage of addrossinc. ■whether incountry or in towTi. he shoujd fee? that his remarks might possibly, here and there, be of advantage to the interests I of »w Zealand. He desired to feel, dur- | hig the time he was Governor, that'whatever he could <lo to advance tbe ] rational progress was of merit in itself : iud of wider merit as advancing the Irn- I peria! unity that all desired to see far- j thered_ in every possible way. t'Applause.) | TTL-; Excellency went on to <*ay that he I wrmid not venture to lecture such an j audience as that before him—an audience j a considerable proportion of which he I understood to be by heredity or otherwise Scotch—upon a. subject which the Scots had made so entirely their own as agrirulture; hnt he might be allowed to say that it must be gratifying to all to note the splendid strides that agriculture had made during the past year, a* witnoss the largo increase of exports. The increase Jn the List decade amounted to over 9 millions sterling, something like 21 millions of the exports hi that period being due to agriculture. If there had been somewhat of a decreaso in the products of rhe South during recent times, this was fully accounted for by well-known disabilities—the drought, and so on. There appeared to be a considerable tract' of land in the South which, for these reasons, had not come to its full fertilo usefulness, aa in former years. The lands that by-rea-son of liability to drought were useless; or partially useless amountd to something like two million acres. This must liaveitad a most unfortunate effect, especially in the depletion of flocks. He might be pardoned for suggesting to his audience that scientific research, if properly followed tip, might enable some of this loss to be made f*ocd. And in this connection he noted with satisfaction the efforts of the Agricultural Department in the way of repasturing lands, propoundinfir schemes of irrigation, giving advice to fruit-growers, and combating the problem, of the milking cow—how to prevent an inferior ouw

| item, apoiKing "hospitality, of hw ! o*s«*. : Hft adviaed.everyone to'ettidy th* admirable ~ calendar to be seen in the agricultural department of the | show illustrating the disparity between cows. He impressed upon them that science was always progressing; new disroveries aud, ntw methods were continually liejng taken advantage of. -He urged the farmers of New Zealand to go on witii- the work of scientific research. They must extend, expand, and organise it. Every year they would be more and more confronted with competition in our staple products by countries which sold those" products in* the same markets as New Zealand. He concluded by expressing pleasure at having been present to open the show, aud he wished the society continued success and expansion in the years to come.