Manawatu Evening Standard. FRIDAY, JUNE 9, 1939. THE WINTER SHOW.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LIX, Issue 161, 9 June 1939, Page 6

Manawatu Evening Standard. FRIDAY, JUNE 9, 1939. THE WINTER SHOW.

JvKKPTXG steadily before it tlie high standard of previous years and ever seeking to create new .educational values and entertaining diversions, the Manuwatu and West Coast A. and P. Association to-morrow will begin its 37th National Dairy Show—an exhibition which ranks as the foremost of its kind in the Dominion. The primary objects of this well-estab-lished organisation have not suffered by the changing of the years; to-day the dairy produce section of the Show contains exhibits which are the best of their kind in a country in which dairy production has attained remarkable heights. The entries in this section are greater than they were last year and come from a truly representative and wide area. Other products of the farm, despite unseasonable conditions, have been brought forward in an abundance which does credit to all concerned; while it is also most encouraging to find that among the juvenile farmers of the district, the Boys’ and Girls’ Agricultural Clubs, there is a splendid increase in competitive entries. Other competitive classes have received most encouraging support so that as a display of agricultural skill the Show lacks nothing. The educational value of this exhibition, when truly assessed by the townsman as well as his country cousin—and there is no reason why town dwellers should not readily appreciate the results of the landsman’s efforts — is something of very real importance. Coupled with the award sections, as is fitting at a Winter Show when many of the features must be staged indoors, a notable contribution indicating _ the remarkable advance made in science as related to farming is given by the Department of Agriculture and other organisations. It is a far cry to the days of early Shows, when the application of science to farming was but in its infancy, and little did pioneer farmers dream what tremendous progress would be made in this respect. The Manawatu Association has not been slow to appreciate the benefit to be derived from collaborating with the Department

of Agriculture in presenting the latter’s very fine exhibits, and in this respect alone the Show is deserving of every encouragement by farmer and town dweller alike. The industrial halls and trade displays form also a very important and worthwhile section of the attractions provided, while the lighter side of entertainment has not been neglected. In order to increase opportunities for public attendance, also, the Association has extended the period of tlm Show. It is fitting that on the occasion of the present display the High Commissioner for the United Kingdom, Sir Harry Batterbee, should pay his first official visit to this city, and, by declaring the Show open, perform one of his first public duties in any provincial centre in the Dominion. Sir Harry’s visit is doubly welcome, for he is not only greeted as one of our own kith and kin but is afforded an opportunity of seeing for himself, in a compact yet comprehensive range of exhibits, the fruits of the soil of a most fertile land, the results of careful and resourceful husbandry, and meet those who have done and are continuing to do so much to maintain the country’s export trade by the application of the best known farming methods. It was a happy thought which prompted the A. and P. Association’s o flic inis to invite the High Commissioner to open the Show, for he will on this occasion—-as he himself has expressed the desire to do —gain an intimate knowledge of what our men on the land arc doing and will doubtless obtain an 'impression which should have nothing but the most pleasing results when he conveys it to others.