WAIKATO WINTER SHOW.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18411, 29 May 1923, Page 7 (Supplement)

WAIKATO WINTER SHOW.

LEADS IN DAIRY PRODUCTS. EDUCATIONAL PURPCOE. A NATIONAL SERVICE. It takes other things than self assurance and agencies for advertisement to create the greatest show on earth. To make the claim is easy; to justify it is beyond ordinary powers. In the little ! group of unique show promoters are such . celebrities in entertainment as the late 1 rhineas T. Barnum. with his colossal ; circus and menagerw; but there are' ethers, bent on more disinterested and , utilitarian task-, and amofg them are the enthusiasts of the Waikato Winter Show Association. It is not hyperbole to! c:rdit them with producing one of the greatest shows on earth: it is sober truth. Measured by square yards, their Showyields place to some established in older, ' bigger countries than New Zealand. Even I in this Dominion, there are some better housed and some with special features of merry-making that place them apart. But for downright practical achievement the Waikato Winter Show is supreme in New I Zealand, and challenges comparison in ona respect with any other in all the world. That supremacy is won in its dairy sec , tion. It was this that was central in the thought of the Show's originators ; it has remained central ever since. Other interests have their niches of honouragriculture, wool-growing, forestry, horticulture, poultry-keeping, home industries. photography, schoolwork, and all the varied activities that go to make a Show a mirror of the people's pursuits: but pedestalled in unrivalled prominence are dairying and its products. It is this feature of the Show that attracts to it visitors from overseas. Year by year they come now as a matter of business: to omit a journey to Hamilton in May is to risk being left seriously behind in knowledge-of an industry whose market/ is to-day absolutely world-wide. As for the Dominion's own dairy farmers and ' factory managers, they are absent at their own peril ; and the enthusiasm they show in accepting the Association's invitation both to exhibit and attend gives growing proof of the high value they set upon the Show. The Genesis of the Show. i . Like everything else with life in it, it cpme from a little seed. In this way. In 1905 the late Mr. J. S. Bond and Mr. J. A. Young, now well known as Hamilton's member of Parliament, paid together a visit to Wellington, and called at Palmerston North to have a look at its i show. It impressed them. It did more: it gave them a brain-wave as loyal men of the Waikato. Why should not their town and district do likewise or better"' So. they had a meeting of the Waikato A. and P. Association called to consider the idea of a Waikato winter show dealing principally with dairy products. The association was not inclined to move in the matter. Nothing daunted, they called a public meeting, and it responded by approving the project and appointing a committee to give it being. The prime movers deserve to be remembered to-day with gratitude. Beside Messrs. Bond and Young, they were Messrs..'Allen Bell, Walter Chitty, Theo. Mitchell and T. Barford. The show was held in July of 1907. It was housed in a portion of the present Horse Bazaar, and it secured two entries in the, butter section and one in the cheese. Not a very august commencement; but its promoters had pluck, and they knew that the day of small things was not to be lightly despised. So the thin edge of the golden wedge that was to open the Waikato to** the world was well and truly inserted. Since then it has been driven home. At that' Show of 1907 there were four classes in the dairying section; now there are thirty. . Then three thousand people passed through the gates in' the Show's three days; last year, in the six days into which its activity was crowded, the attendances totalled fifty thousand. Between that modest commencement and the present stupendous success lies <; record of unwavering endeavour. The little band of. enthusiasts, actuated by a daring faith in their district, won others to their belief. They began without money, and there has never been sought a donation of more t\an £5 to their organising funds. Yet their venture has never looked lii,e failing since their pluck conquered lie initial difficulties. Not even the great war could hamper its progress: the management took skilful advantage of that period's demand for dairy products and redoubled their energies in order to keep the Show going without the interruption of a year. Indeed, the Show actually made progress during the war—an achievement unique in New Zealand. The Secret of Success. The secret of the show's success lies In many contributing factors. Fundamentally, there is the kindly beneficence of Nature, which has endowed the dis- j trict with seme of the finest dairying territory in the world. It is not thr.t its soilhave a higher natural fertility than may he' found elsewhere, but a remarkable combination of favouring circumstances favours the industry. Roiling downs with a porous sub-soil give a free natural drainage. The swamp areas are comparatively easily brought into use. Prolonged sunshine and abundant rainfall are climatic, elements that persuade the humus-laden areas to produce a luxuriant growth of pasture grasses, find even the lighter areas respond generously to economical top-dressing with artificial manures.

It is possible to maintain on many a farm in the district a. cow to the acre all the year round, and a good living can be got from 50 acres. Increasingly scientific musing of the soil and bettor breeding as a result of herd-testing ensure the maintenance of the Waikato's natural advantages. 'I lie growth of the dairy companies has been a poworfrl secondary fnctor. A few years ago there were a number of individual farmers at work in 0 Visurely faslvon; to-day. as a result of combined action, culminr.fing in the amalgamation of some earlier enterprises with the New Zca'and Co-operative Dairy Company, of which Mr. William Ooodfellow is the managing d'Yector, there" is an increased return, coupled with the handling of profitable by-products and the organisation of uyerse-: mark;) facilities. i The show has made progress step by step with this advance, contributing not a little to the genera" gain of which it is the reflection.' The co-operation of the whole fairing community has been beyond praise. The Show is p jvilir with p: :r!ucr;\*. Factory managers and directors of dairy companies keenly appreciate the efforts of its promoters to advance the dairying prosperity of the Dominion in general, as well as of the Waikato in particular, by the institution of grading and other

competitions n both batter and cheese. These competitions, it should be noted, are conceived in no parochial spirit. They comprise contests for Dominion. South Island, and various provincial championships. A special feature, indicative of the eagerness of the Show authorities to advance New Zealand's dairying interests, is the exhibition this year of samples of Danish and Canadian butter, taken from the Loudon market ; these have been secured as of instructive value for factory managers, in technical comparisons as to analysis and weights. Educational Aim. The educational purpose of the Show has been steadily pursued, in the dairy section particularly; br.t this year sees a further advance in this direction. The Show area has been extended to. include the whole of the buildings of the Hamilton Technical School, and in them there will be conducted a demonstration of technical training as part and parcel of tin- Show's educative programme, even though this involves the School being (.pen on two days otherwise observed as lulidavs. The Show's authorities take justifiable pride in the fact that they were the first to admit svlwol children free, and that they have led the way in providing special 'classes for competitive exhibition bv these children. The educational authorities, on their part, have co-operated splendidly throughout the Show's historv. and teachers all over the Waikato are" now completing exhibits from their schools. While the interest of the local community has been manifested in a vast amount of voluntary work under the direction of the Show's executive, the prize

list reveals also a widespread regard for their enterprise. Handsome challenge cups, some of them valued at as high a figure as 150 guineas, have been presented by London and other firms in the dairy section ; and in other classes the interest of various New Zealand trading houses is proved by kindred donations. For the past three years, the Auckland Farmers' Freezing Company has given £50 a year toward the prizes in the dairy produce grading contests, and the New Zealand Co-operative Dairy Company has this year donated a like amount to .the pri"-e list in the open classes of the dairy section. The Chief Promoters. The chief credit for all this eo-opei atii belongs to the men who have organised it. Their courage in the early years has been succeeded by admirable business methods alertly adapted to meet the grow ing opportunities of the Waikato. They have striven, indeed, to keep ahead of demands. That the managers of tin London Dairy Show should have written for a copy of the Waikato Waiter Show's dairy sectim schedule of 1922 i- one oi many testimonials that may be cited. At the head .of thee' alert executives the following gentlemen have been president in tun;'; 1037. Allen Bell; 1908. Allen Bell: 1903. fames Bond: 1910. .lames Bond: 193 1. S. J. Bennett; 1912, James Parlane; 1915. F. K. Smith; 1914. F. E. Smith; 1915. W. .). McK.ee; 1916. W. .1 McKee: 1917, F. ff. Pemberton: 1918. F. ft. Pemberton: 1919. W. J. McKee: 1920. J. E. Tidd; 1921, J. E. Tidd; 1922. 11. H. Clark; 1923, H. H. Clark. Of these.

Mr. \V. J. MeKcc has lia<l tho unusual honour of being three, times president. The third term necessitated an alteration of the Association's rules, which had been framed to limit the term of office to two year*: the desire for Mr. MoKee's most capable services proved .stronger than precedent. lie is still keenly concerned in the Show's success as a member of its Executive Committee. Yet. whoever may have been from time to time the head of the Show's management, the guiding hand in recent years, exercising responsible control and tombing all its organisation into life, lias been Mr. W. H. Paul, the Association's present Secretary. He has been actively identified with the Show since 1903, and has been Secretary for nearly ten years. The steady growth of the Show has necessitated an augmented staff, every member of which has an enthusiasm for its success; they, like the army of voluntary workers who every year render yeoman service, for nothing but love of the cause. in preparing the buildings, are inspired by Mr. Paul's infectious belief in the Show's value. Nor are they mistaken. The Show is of incalculable value. The retired farmer on its Dairy Committee can testify to that, for they have fell it, influence in fostering excellence in Waikato dairy produce. And what they say others may well endorse, The Show ha. advertised the Waikato as nothing else could have done: it has sent the district's fame, especially in dairying, spinning round the globe. It has brought .settlement. It lias ait rafted as citizens many whose first acquaintance with the district was got on a visit to the Show. It has helped to make that district's lands coveted and fruitful. It has conferred benefit on many another part of New Zealand: there is not a Dairy Company in the Dominion that is not enthusiastic about its work

for New Zealand's dairying. The* Government of the country has made acknowledgment: never a year has passed without a Government exhibit of some, kind, and the words of His Excellency the Governor-General and others who have formally opened the Show have borne clear witness to the public service it has rendered. It may he safely forecasted that, iii opening the Show "on May 29, this year, the Prime Minister will voire ,i national gratitude. In the conviction of >elfle-s work well done. which his words must awaken, the Show's promoters will reap a cherished reward for their indefatigable toil.