AGRICULTURAL CLUBS

Manawatu Standard, Volume LIII, Issue 254, 23 September 1933, Page 5

AGRICULTURAL CLUBS

MANAWATU-OROUA DIVISION. * GROUP ENTRIES RECEIVED. A meeting of the management comt mittee of tho Manawatu-Oroua divis sion of the Boys’ and Girls’ Agricul--7 tural Clubs was held at Feilding, yes--3 terday afternoon, Mr J. H. Mason 1 presiding in the absence of the president, Mr H. J. Fagan. Also pre--2 sent were Messrs It. P. Connell (DeJ partment of Agriculture), E. H. s Lange (Wanganui Education Board), « A. G. Dear, G. J. Fitzpatrick, C. M. j Hyde, A. A. O’Donnell, C. M. Lind, 5 AV. E. Thomas, K. M. Little and W. s J. Croucher. Apologies for absence ■ were received from Messrs H. Fagan, “ W. L. Grice and F. C. Saxton. f The Director of the Department of r Agriculture wrote stating that it :1 had been decided to grant some fin- , ancial assistance to recognised Boys’ * and Girls’ Agricultural Club organiJ sations throughout the Dominion, and 1 as far as the Feilding district organi- ® sation was concerned a grant of £2O 5 had "been authorised. d In addition to the above grant, Mr i Connell stated that the Department 1 of Agriculture would again be proB viding the certificates, etc., which it * had always previously supplied and ® which it had been feared would be J curtailed this year. It was also stated that the grant of £2O was the highest the organisation . bad yet received from the department, the meeting deciding to express s its appreciation of the consideration 3 of the department by sending a letter of thanks. ’ The retailers’ committee of the Feilding Chamber of Commerce also 6 forwarded a donation of £l, thanks being accorded the committee. A donation of £2 2s was also received 0 with thanks from the Wellington District Farmers’ Union, while the Manawatu A. and P. Association regretted that it could not make any rj monetary grants this year owing 'to depleted finances. D Referring to the decision of the Manawatu A. and P. Association, Mr Croucher said this recommendation had been brought forward by the finance committee of the association and confirmed later by the general com--0 mittee. He had taken the opportunity at the general committee meeting to object to the recommendation of the finance committee, pointing out 3 what a valuable work the club was doing in agriculture and calf rearing 3 generally. Mr Croucher was pleased 2 to be able to state that three members - of the finance committee had recon- . sidered their decision and the speaker j was able to hand over to the club the usual £3 3s, from the association, but which, on this occasion, had been do- ) nated by the three members of the fin--3 ance committee. The meeting re--5 ceived the donation with acclamai tion. The donors of the £3 3s, Mr ) Croucher said, were Messrs T. R. j Hodder, H. V. Lethbridge and J. Linklater, M.P. } GROUP ENTRIES. A report on the entries of calves and root crops in the different groups was made by Mr Lange as follows: 3 Group I.—Longburn, School, 14 calves, 9 mangold plots; Tiakitahutia. nil and 4; Kairanga, 0 and 6; liangi- , otu, nil; Bainesse, 7 aud 5; Tiritea, G and 4. Group 2. —Rongotea, 19 and G; Kopane, 4G and 4; Glen Oroua, 4 and 1 ll; Taikorea, nil; Oroua Downs, 15 1 and nil. , Group 3.—Cheltenham, 7 and 9; 1 Kiwitea, 4 and 8; Lytton Street (Feilding), 3 and G; Makino, 0 and G; Apiti, 13 and 7. Group 4. —Bunnytliorpe, 13 and 7; Ashhurst, 11 and 0; Raumai, 6 and 0; Pohangina, 4 and 0; Fitzherbert East, 0 and 5; Kelvin Grove, 0 and 4. Group 5. —Taonui, 0 and G; Te Arakura, 5 and 0; Coiyton, 7 and 4; Newbury, 0 and 14; Awahuri, 5 and 0. Group G. —Sanson, nil; Ohrakea, 3 and 7 ; Carnarvon, 3 and 19; Wailohi; nil; Clydesdale, 7 and 4; Kakarike, 6 and 6; Mt. Biggs, nil. Extra mangold plots were put in from the following schools: —Rangiwahia, 5; Wliakarongo, 10; Stanway, 4. The totals were as under: —Calves, 214; mangolds; 174; mangolds outside groups, 19. Commenting on the entries, Mr Lange said it was worthy of note that the children had this year come forward with a full knowledge that they would receive no prizes other than certificates. This fact reflected _ a commendable spirit among the children. The entries were well up to those of previous competitions. The meeting discussed the marking of the calves entered in the competition, a decision being reached to have all calves that were entered marked as soon as possible. Mr Connell reported that Manawatu Mills, Ltd., Palmerston North, had promised a donation of a challenge trophy for the judging class in the calf club competition, the donation being received with thanks. ESSAY COMPETITIONS. Reference was made by Mr Crouchei to the field day that had been held at Mr H. J. Lancaster’s property at Glen Oroua and at which Mr Lancaster had given a splendid demonstration on calves . to the, children. Arising out of this demonstration a competition had been instituted among the children attending the demonstration in the writing of an essay on the demonstration. Mr Croucher had been asked to judge the essays, but on perusing them he had found many of them to be of such merit that he had handed them on to Mr Connell lor final adjudication. Mr Croucher suggested that on the awards being being made the club present merit cards to the winners in addition to the other prizes awarded. Mr Fitzpatrick thought that it would be a better plan if the giving of prizes could be discontinued. He instanced the case of the Feilding and District Public Schools Amateur Athletic Association’s annual sports, when over 1000 children competed only for merit cards and for their schools. This spirit should be inculcated into the children in the calf club movement. It was pointed out, however, by other speakers, that the prizes in this case had been awarded from sources outside the club, which was in no way .responsible for the demonstration at Mr Lancaster’s place, or the prizes. In a general discussion on the matter of encouraging essay competitions at group demonstrations Air Lange said he considered it unwise for the club to sponsor such a proposal. The demonstrations occurred at a period when the teachers at the schools were engaged in the final terms of the year, and to place extra work on them at that time was not in the best interests of the children. The teachers would have to see that the papers were correctly prepared and, in Mr Lange’s opinion, it would not be advisable for the club to give the suggestion official recognition. If the groups wished to take the matter up themselves, well and good, but it was not a step that the club should foster. Other members expressed similar

views, following which the discussion lapsed. GENERAL. •It was decided to hold the championship judging of the calves at Feilding on December 13 at 10.30 a.m. Arrangements were made for the presentation of the Stuart Wilson Cup, won hy Master Murray Lind, of the Rongotea School, in the Dominion crop growing championship. The presentation will be made at the Rongotea School. It was decided to set up an executive committee consisting of Messrs Fagan, Connell, Lange, Croucher, Thomas, .and Fitzpatrick. ALTERATION TO RULES. Notice of motion was given by Mr Lange to move at the November meeting of the club that the rules be amended to provide that each group shall contribute the sum of £2 2s annually to the funds provided that no school shall be called, upon to find more than 10s Od of that amount.