THE New Zealand Herald. AND DALLY SOUTHERN CROSS. MONDAY, MAY 24, 1909. THE WINTER EXHIBITION.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVI, Issue 14069, 24 May 1909, Page 4

THE New Zealand Herald. AND DALLY SOUTHERN CROSS. MONDAY, MAY 24 , 1909. THE WINTER EXHIBITION.

The Winter Exhibition, which opens to-day at the Railway Wharf, in the sheds granted for the purpose by the Auckland .Harbour Board, is said by competent judges to be the finest and most comprehensive event of the kind ever held in the Dominion. ■ That there was abundant room for the movement in the agricultural and industrial life of the province has been abundantly demonstrated by the hearty co-opera-tion obtained i by the Agricultural Association from •agriculturists, importers,' manufacturers, and other interested sections of the community ; nor has the Department of Agriculture been backward in taking advantage of a unique opportunity to ; explain its various activities. to the public. It. has been doubted by the inevitable Didymus, who must see to believe, whether it was possible to make an .attractive annual exhibition of . agricultural and industrial ■'■. interest .}without those open-air features and live stock exhibit? which constitute the popular features of the summer gathering at Alexandra Park. . • The thousands ■ who will, certainly be both pleased and instructed ; by the Winter Exhibition of : this week will have no doubt upon the matter. The finely-

decorated -sheds, illuminated .at ( night by electric light, contain ex, j "hibits from the majority of the dairy* factories in the province, and from most of our local industries. Machinery ;of all classes, particularly that employed in farming] local manufactures, from launches and pottery to jams and sundries ; an horticultural section; wool classing in : full v swing; a native shrubbery section district courts, in which Franklin, Ohinemuri, and Tauranga compete against one another a remarkably fine and .intensely interesting section arranged by the Agricultural Department; Tourist: Department exhibits, with the customary side shows and tea rooms, are features of an Exhibition which Auckland may well be proud of, although it will reach a size in future years which will dwarf the "show" jof to-day. Needless to say, there is : abundance of attraction for the general public not specially interested in any given line. The keenest interest is being taken by dairymen in the butter and cheese awards, and interviews with the responsible judges, published in this morning's Herald, indicate how steadily Auckland is forging ahead in the great and permanent dairying r industry. If the Government would only note how valuable and . productive is ah. industry carried on upon lands recently lying waste and idle it might assist them to shake off the "taihoa" policy, and open to settlement our locked-up Native Lands. s

Such exhibitions as this deserve wide-spread and general support, if for no other reason than that they help to tic Town and Country together, and by reminding the twain of their common interests and essential need for co-operation and co-ordination, do good to both without harming either. We cannot too persistently inculcate the fact that the prosperity «£ the cities depends absolutely and entirely upon the winning of wealth from the land, j upon the exploitation of gold, coal, and other minerals, upon the winning of gum, flax, and timber, most of all—because permanently and in- " creasingly—upon the cultivation of the land, the shearing of sheep, the growing of meat, the planting of * orchards, and the milking of cows. The carpenter works in Auckland because the bush has been cleared in the Waikato and at Whangarei. Our electric - cars and our 1 waterworks, our lamp-lighted streets and macadamised roads, all the conveniences and facilities of the Northern metropolis, depend directly upon the progress made by the settlers in the wilds of Auckland province. At the. same time our settlers can be very greatly helped by the people of the cities, .especially by a united effort to remove the extraordinary barricades erected against" settle*ment and against the roading and ■ railing of the back country by mistaken legislation and incompetent administration. If work is slack in any part of Auckland or in any part of the Dominion, it is well to remember that the Minister for Works has just > told ■us that in the i district which would be traversed ! by a Waihi-Tauranga-Te Teko line f i he has seen room for half-a-million people, a settlement which would alone give constant employment to more people than now live in the metropolis. The only reason why this line has not been built before this is that our national funds have been squandered most lamentably on Southern lines, which can hardly pay working expenses, much less interest on, the cost of construction. The truth of this charge is proved every time the monthly railway returns are published. For the quarter ending March 31 last the railway 'returns show v ~.. . <rr. Revenue. Expenditure. North' ...... £408,800 £266,200/ South ..." ... £387,400 £260,900 .,, These figures are"~startling enough, showing that with only £6000 addiexpenditure the 4 North gives £21,000 additional revenue, but for the full meaning the mileage must be compared. This gives: • Mileage. Excess of '* revenue. • North '' ..1 ..-'1132 "£142,600 : South ... ... 1542 ' £126,500 Our Northern lines paid the country; over £16,000 more for the quarter than did the Southern lines, , although we have over 400 miles less . railway. " The locking-up of the , Native Lands and.the lack railway . facilities hamper the development of . the North, and check the growth of . the agricultural industries brought , before the public at the Winter Ex- . hibition. .