FARMING PRESTIGE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21117, 26 February 1932, Page 15

FARMING PRESTIGE.

POSITION OF PROVINCE. EFFICIENCY IN PRODUCTION. AIM FOR THE FUTURE. Producers in the north owe a great debt to the various agricultural and pastoral associations throughout the P ro " vince for ilie energy with which they seek to promote progress in the primary industries. In no other part of the Dominion are there so many bodies whose efforts are directed toward greater production efficiency, as represented by improvements in the breeding and management of livestock, and in no district has this aim been achieved in greater degree than in the Auckland Province. Interest is centred to-day in the activities of the Auckland Metropolitan Agricultural and Pastoral Association, a body with an outstanding record of service in the interests of the farming community. As an index to the province's vast potentialities and the progress made in exploiting them, the annual metropolitan display enjoys an indisputable distinction among such exhibitions in the Dominion. A ready and wise leadership on the part of the association in promoting vital issues and an enthusiastic response from successful breeders and producers has played an important part in establishing Auckland's reputation as the leading province as far as agricultural and pastoral development is concerned, and the direct gain to the producer in economic stability is something which can hardly be calculated in terms of pounds, shillings and pence.

Patrons at the show to-day and to-mor-row will have an excellent opportunity of judging for themselves the merits which underlie the province's prestige in primary production, for, in spite of the unfavourable times, producers have given very satisfactory support to the various livestock classes, entries in the sections for dairy cows, sheep and pigs all being in excess of the numbers forwarded last year. Provided quantity is supplemented by quality, the great essentials for a successful display will be obtained. With the maintenance of £hat standard of excellence which gives the show a national eminence—and this can be confidently anticipated—there arises a consideration of even more interest and importance, namely, the prospect of future expansion and the promise of a wider reputation in the farming world. At present l.he Auckland fixture claims an unchallenged place in the New Zealand show calender, but it can aspire to even a greater destiny than this. Such are the resources of the province and so great are the prospects for their development that, were they exploited to the full, the annual display would take its place as one of the most important in the Southern Hemisphere. The breeder and the producer have the winning of such a distinction in Jheir own hands. The ideal has its greatest promise of fulfilment in the wealth of material provided by the vast dairy herds in the province. Auckland's pre-eminence in this respect has already induced the metropolitan association to award national championships in the four principal dairy sections —Jersey, Friesian, Ayrshire and Shorthorn—with a view to encouraging wider competition and winning a greater prestige for the show.