The Hawera Star. FRIDAY, APRIL 22, 1927. THE WINTER SHOW.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVI, 22 April 1927, Page 4

The Hawera Star.

FRIDAY, APRIL 22, 1927. THE WINTER SHOW.

Delivered every evening by 5 o'clock in Hawera, Manaia, Normanby, Okaiawa Eltbam, Mangatoki. Kaponga, Alton Hurley ville, Patea. Waveriey. Mokoia. Whakamara, Ohangai. Mertmere. Fraser Hoad and Ararata

Already the work of organising this year’s Winter Show is under way, the committee having met recently and approved the scheme for the 1927 fixture. Last year, it will be remembered, the show exploited very ably the slogan “British goods for British people ’ ’ and the result was something that was unique for a fixture of its kind. An outsider who has never visited a winter show in Hawera may be forgiven for wondering what such a fixture has to do with Empire trade propaganda, but once he has been brought into close contact with the show and the men who are responsible for it, he finds that here is an organisation which seeks to do more than merely place before the public a display of the district’s roots and crops. The organisers of the show, like all other New Zealanders, arc thoroughly loyal to the Empire, but, in addition they are gifted with that rare something which is often termed “vision;’’ they recognise that in the annual show they have an opportunity to do something for the cause of British industry while doing something for their own particular district. Thus the show has grown till now it is more in the nature of an exhibition on a small —though not insignificant —scale. Just as a man who sets up as a prophet is likely to be overlooked by his fellow countrymen, so is an organisation which has vision and the energy to realise it, likely to be taken a good deal for granted by those who live in close proximity; there is a danger of us taking the success of our winter show as a matter of course, forgetting the originality and the driving force which has been, and is, necessary to keep the Hawera fixture in the enviable position it holds , among the show centres of the Dominion. Last year, in addition to providing a display which attracted an attendance of 33,000 during the seven day season —on one day 10,000 persons paid for admission—the organisers launched and successfully carried out a. scheme to make known the quality of New Zealand produce in thousands of English homes and at the same time to impress upon New Zealnders the desirability of giving preference to British-made goods. The first fruits of this scheme are now 1 coming to hand, some thousands of essays being exchanged between the schoolchildren of the Old Country and che pupils of New Zealand schools. This is a scheme of gigantic proportions and it at once aroused the whole-heart-ed admiration of many visitors to last year’s show. This year the organisers are concentrating their efforts upon a “New Zealand Manufactures Week” and again they have hit upon a happy method of combining public service with the entertainment and education of the thousands who’ will visit the exhibition of the finest products of this great dairying province. New Zealand is rapidly awaking to a realisation that if she is to go forward and take her proper place in the scheme of Empire, providing a bigger outlet for Briain’s surplus po|\ulation, and working her own lands more intensely, she must develop her secondary side by side with her primary industries. The manufacturers of the Dominion are more fully awake to-day than they ever have been before to the necessity of pushing forward by their own efforts and not depending solely on protective tariffs to secure to them a local market. They are awake to the necessity, not only of producing an article of high quality at a price that will compete successfully with foreign-made goods, but they have been also impressed with the necessity of creating an opinion favourable to their goods amongst their own

countrymen. The outcome of this new policy of the manufacturers may be seen in the advertisements in the daily Press, in which the industrial associations are making an appeal not only to the sentiment of the New Zealand purchaser but to his reason. It is the object of the Show Committee to' help on this work, for its members realise that primary and secondary interests are interdependent. This years Winter Show will give manufacturers and primary producers an opportunity to co-operate in the best sense of the word. The support of the farming community is assured, for the Hawera Winter Show is regarded as one of the outstanding fixtures of the winter season in New Zealand and. judging by the support which has been already promised by the New Zealand Manufacturers’ Association, it appears certain that Hawera is again to have the honour of being the venue of one of the premier exhibitions in the Dominion and at the same time of utilising an unique opportunity to serve the interests of the farming and manufacturing interests of New Zealand.