EXHIBITS AT FIRST SHOW

Hawera Star, Volume LIII, 7 November 1933, Page 13

EXHIBITS AT FIRST SHOW

CONTRASTS WITH THE PRESENT

(By W. T. Weils.) There are very few of the people left who attended the first A. and P. show at Hawera. How little those early residents could foresee the changes coining. Had I told the people then that on Sunday night I sat in the house and listened to a very fine service in St. Peter’s church, Wellington, or that- I got the light to read by at night and boiled the kettle by electricity, then saw an aeroplane living over the house and heard the results of the races from Aucklandwell, to say the least, they would have said I was very careful not to waste the truth 1

But, coming back to the first show: of course the arrangements were not on the same plane a.s to-day, but it was looked .on as a great event and a lot of good stock were shown, l cannot fancy that we. beat them much today, if at all In’ those old days we had a lot of real good farmers and graziers. Ido not recollect seeing any Jerseys here then, but for Shorthorns, fine stock was bred by Peacock, J. I Winks, J. Livingston, Moore Hunter, McLeans, Reids, Pearces, of Patea; for Herefords by Inkster (Normanby), Moil- and Currie (Wanganui), J. Davidson and others. They were always prominent, of course, ' all beef breeders with, perhaps, the exception of Mr Peacock and the late Morris Roberts, who had wonderful herds of Milking Shorthorns. They were heavy beef cattle, but. still, even with handmilking and setting the cream, made 15 to 171bs. of butter a week. (Somehow a wrong cross got in the herds and they went off). The sheep were not very strong in number, mostly Lincolns, shown by Pearce, Moore Hunter, Breinmers, Pantham, Blairs and others. In Romneys there were the late J O. Yorke and two or three whom I cannot recollect; but the sheep were quite a different type from those of to-day In those days Lincoln were mostly iept and for some reason they were very delicate. It was nothing to lose 2o pea- cent, of lambs in a winter and. often 50 ner cent.

Getting back to the show, there was a real good class of draught hc-rses. I am quite certain that to-day v. e could not beat them. There were some good mares and entires from the Caverhill estate, Hunter, Bremmer. Houghton, J. D. Mitchell and many others; also some very good heavy draught horses in harness. . • As regards the hacks, they would more than hold their own to-day. The ladies’ classes all were strong mid many of the hacks were fit for any company.

As regards pigs, they were -• not shown as far as I can recollect. Most of us had enough of pigs on' the Plains. * -

Implements were very few. I remember the late Worth Bros, had their threshing plant running and I believe the first binder that went onto the Plains was bought by the late Mr A. Hastie (Inaha).

The show was held in a bare paddock and the horses were tied up to . 1 fences anyhow. There was a bar on ;> .> the ground and piatronage was quite good. Nearly all rede at that time and a round dozen would have about included all the buggies and gigs in the Plains, in addition to a very few spring carts. i What a contrast with what your show of 1933 will be! Then there were no such things as milking machines, 't separators, motor lorries and cars. We • 1 had our troubles then, same as now, v ; but with this difference —most of us ; were young and strong. I recollect very few rich people. Of course, in a way that could be accounted for as nearly all of us had come from England and nobody in those days thought * of coming out unless they were well ~ - and strong. We had plentv of good rough tucker, but very little luxury.

We had our lambs die by the' score and yearling calves with lungworm. Mr C Hawken of Mokoia can bear me out in that, but somehow we got through and New Zealand will do the same again.

To show the changes among the people, I think there are not more than three or four of the subscribers to the “Star” still living and of all the settlfers of fifty years ago between Hawera and Otakeho there are only five or six left. But the old settlers left their mark