MANAWATU SHOW.

New Zealand Times, Volume LXXVII, Issue 5311, 24 June 1904, Page 3

MANAWATU SHOW.

PALMERSTON WINTER DISPLAY. (By Our Special Eoponor.) PALMERSTON, June 23. T no grow li u-hicn tbo Palmerston Winter Show has made in the brief space of iw.Tvo it.ont.iii., described on all sides as man cl lons. It i,-. midcut that the future of th show is; destined to lie very great; tho vc.-ources of tho extensive district lying between Wellington and New Plymouth ore so extensive that, judged from me progress of the post year, the. possibilities of expansion within the next decade are linitiess. The attendance at the show VL’slerde.y was again very large. Tho financial success of the venture is more than as.-iUC’d. and no doubt the Agricultural and Pastoral A social inn will take rare next year to remedy certain faults u hich are obvious at t he pre.-ent show. The accommodation offered for tho meetings of tho Dairy Assoc-.a 1 ion was very primitive. To invito a number of delegates to attend an important conference and then put thorn into a cold, bleak, badly-light-ed and imperfcctly-heatcd apartment, where many of I hem were required to sit on ordinary wooden forms, and rest their feet upon an asphalt or earthen floor, seems, to say the least of it, very mhospitable. Tho conditions under which tho press representatives wero also asked to work have already been described. No doubt, these matters will receive tho attention of tho association before the time arrived for tho next winter show. Mr John Duthie, M.U.R., was one of those who ran up from .Wellington today to see tho show. When asked his impressions, Mr Duthie told a represcnla’tivd of tho "New Zealand Times” that ho thought the dairy machinery interesting, but tho feature of the show, to his nimd, was the exhibit of dried milk. "There are vory great possibilities in this invention in its relation to a city’s milk supply;” said he. Mr D. D. Hyde. Government poultry export. who was a visitor to tho show today.’ was asked by a representative of Hie’“New Zealand Times” his views of the poultry exhibits. “The. leading birds are very good,” was his reply, "and generally the display is exceedingly premising. There is, however, air evident want of knowledge on tho part of exhibitors of the art of preparing a bird for show. There is a great want of finisn in some of the exhibits. I would suggest that beginners who are exhibiting should noto the condition of the birds shown hero by Mr G. E. Hutchinson, oi Auckland, and Mr AV. A. Bowman, of Blenheim, the chief prize-takers m tho poultry division. These birds show that every care and attention have been giv en them in tho preparation for Ino show. Their finish might well be studied by exhibitors generally. Altogether I regard tho show of poultry as a very good one. There are some exceptionally good birds on view—birds fit to be exhibited in any part of the colony. It is true that the quality of tho exhibits varies but still the show throughout is a very promising one. It indicates, for one thing, ’that breeders are proceeding on riebt lines, and that greater attention is being devoted to the "utility btrus tho Orpingtons, Plymouth Eocks and AVyaudottes. These classes are very prominent iu this show, and there is, at the same time, a falling-off in the Hamburg, the Polish and other fancy types.” Two visitors at the show, Mr King, secretary of tho Marlborough Poultry Association, and Mr AV. A. Sowman, of Blenheim (whoso exhibits of Plymouth Eocks and Orpingtons formed ono of the leading features of tho poultry classes), expressed to a "New Zealand Times” representative their appreciation of the arrangements made for visiting exhibitors by tho officials of tho Manawatu A. and P. Association, and by the Railway Department. ( "We have been treated exceptionally well on all sides,” said Mr King, “and we cannot say too much of the courtesy of the railway people and the trouble they have taken in looking after our exhibits on the, way to the show.”

About 150 of tho delegates attending the Dairy Conference proceeded to Makino this morning by special train, at the invitation of Messrs Joseph Nathan and Co., to inspect the process of drying milk. Mr D, J. Nathan, of Wellington, accompanied the party. The process was shown in full operation, ordinary milk being reduced to powder, then restored to its original condition by the addition of moisture, and when the cream had been extracted from it to be manufactured into buttor, tho skimmed milk was again reduced to powder. The stall where the tins of dried milk are offered for sale at the show has been surrounded day and night by crowds of dairy farmers and others interested in tho invention: BANQUET. | Tho hanqdet arranged by the Winter Show Committee was attended by over two hundred guests to-night. The president (Air S. W. Luxford) was in the ■chair. Various heads of Government departments were present, in addition to a representative gathering of dairymen. In proposing the toast of “Agriculture,” Mr AI. Cohen made special reference to the public school exhibits at the show. Apart from the wisdom or otherwise of retaining the name of the competition, perhaps it could bo enlarged on the linos of-tho Dunedin competition, though ho did not know that it would be wise to eliminate the interest of tho school children. He was authorised to say that Air Joseph Nathan, of Wellington, who had identified himsolf with this district for a largo number of years, would donate £SO as the nucleus of a fund (which could readily he made £100) for school prizes. The announcement was received with loud applause. Air J. A. Gilruth, Chief Government Veterinarian, made reference to tho value of technical education. Ho was certain that a far greater- quantity of produce could he exported than that of to-day, if people wore educated to a greater extent. Recent statistics showed that Groat Britain produced 67 per cent, of her meat supply, and tho whole of the colonics supplied only 8 per cent. Technical education should begin with tho young—it was no good pretending to teach the old. Ho instanced the admirable system prevailing in France and tho influence it had had in assisting agriculture in that country, by moans of which' it had recovered from tho effects of the Franoo-Prussian war. Air Gilruth regretted to see the ignorance of many of the children in this colony in regard to agriculture, and their tendency to congregate in. the centres rather than take up farming pursuits. Other toasts honoured during tho evening were “The Dairying and Poultry Industries,” “Trade and Commerce’’ and “The Alanawatu A. and P. Association.”