HE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 1919. THE METROPOLITAN SHOW.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVI, Issue 17329, 28 November 1919, Page 6

HE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 1919. THE METROPOLITAN SHOW.

I — ♦ j From two hundred or more platI forms between the North Cape and the Bluff candidates for ParliamenI tary honours are almost nightly em- ■ j phasising the importance of land | settlement. The annual show of I the Auckland Agricultural and Pastoral Association, which will be opened to-day, will speak still more j eloquently to residents of the city ' j and province of th* premier position !of our rural industries. Fully 90 per cent, of New Zealand's exports come from the land and the tendency is for the proportion to increase. We are a nation of farmers, and such of us as are city dwellers follow our callings by grace of the grass which grows green from shore , to shore of our sea-girt islands. Our noble provincial capitals, brisk seaports, and pleasant inland towns were built by wealth won from the soil. Their life has no vitality apart from the tens of thousands of farms which circle them ; their busy ( I streets but reflect the concealed industry of the quiet countryside beyond. As settlement advances they enlarge their boundaries ; if by any disastrous chance settlement were to become stationary or recede they would languish. It is a very sure j foundation on which our cities are built, but it is well that all townspeople as well as farmers, should realise the fundamental facts of our economic existence and influence the national policy accordingly. The Metropolitan Show is held this year under exceptionally favj ourable conditions. The prices of most New Zealand products have reached a level that would astound the pioneers of our prosperity. For many years before the war consumption was increasing faster than the production of food. That tendency has been accelerated by the spoliation or the enforced idleness of a large part of the most fertile land in Europe. At the same time the war has Drought social changes which make for a higher level of comfort and a higher standard of living. The world's demand for food is likely to grow rapidly, and though production can and will be increased, it in no longer capable of enormous inflation. There can be no such disturbance of markets as followed the settlement of the American West 40 years ago. On the contrary the outlook is for an unsatisfied call for fqod at highly payable prices even if to-day's level is not maintained. The hunger of the world will be appeased less and less by tapping the virgin fertility of prairie and forest land, and more an'.'; more by the intensification of agriculture, the introduction of seieiA "■<: j methods, and the utilisation I poorer soil. To all these means oi increasing the food supply New Zealand can make a creditable contribution. We have advanced a little way along the path of scientific endeavour; there is yet much to be learned and accomplished. With the improvement of our methods we may reasonably expect to find the size of the holding required to support a j family in comfort progressively decreasing, and we may expect to find increasing use made of what we have been pleased to term our " poor " land. As a matter of fact little of this land is poor. It is certainly far above the minimum margin of fertility from which the world must in i future draw its food supplies, and ' can be worked with advantage to the State and the individual if the .facilities for settlement now promI ised by the Government are reason- ! ably interpreted. | At such a time as this an agricultural show is of special value. The I farming community i s prosperous and can afford to buy new machines and test the improved methods of working that may be demonstrated at a show. Its ranks are being swollen by discharged soldiers whose minds are sensitive to new ideas. Both the young settler and the experienced farmer will gain much knowledge at such an exhibiI tion. To the townsman a show may jbe a novelty or a pleasant social gathering, but to the intelligent j farmer it is a sort of annual exam- ; ination at which ho may test his year's work, appraise himself of the best standards, mark critically the , results gained by the most advanced i husbandry, and note his own failings ; and shortcomings. Assuredly the | Metropolitan Show will be as profit- ' able to farmers as it will be interesting to townspeople. If any criticism can be directed against this and j ! similar exhibitions it is that little I attempt is made to render them as ' instructive as they might be to laymen. By explanatory lectures round the stock pens and by simple iemonstrations of farming processes the promoters might provide a rich I ■ ducation for townspeople. Such an endeavour would not be outside their ' province. Whatever fosters inter- ' est in the rural industries is of ser- i < vice to New Zealand. If there is a n : j undesirable feature in our economic j life it is the drift of population to j the towns. It will be the duty of j the State, when the land-hunger of soldiers is satisfied, to check this tendency by encouraging civilian | settlement. Any assistance agri- ; cultural and pastoral associations ] can give by demonstrating the ab- ] sorbing interest of modern farming ; will be a welcome contribution to a | worthy cause.