New Zealand Agriculturist WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 8, 1879. AGRICULTURAL ASSOCIATIONS.

Oamaru Mail, Volume IV, Issue 852, 8 January 1879, Page 1 (Supplement)

New Zealand Agriculturist WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 8, 1879. AGRICULTURAL ASSOCIATIONS.

It is k subject for regret, although not ; for surprise, that in the southern portion of Otago there should be comparatively so little success attending the Shows and other similar work of the various Agricultural Associations there established. The failure, or, at least, the want of prominent success and progress is to lie deplored, because there is scope and material in abundance to make a really valuable and important Show, if only there were brought into operation the principles of combination and co-operation. Successive attempts to establish an Association in Dunedin, claiming to be the Otago Association, were made a few years ago, and they failed. A vigorous experiment to resuscitate an interest in a new Association with the old name was made two years ago, and as the result two Shows have been held, neither of which can honestly be said to have realised the reasonable anticipations of the promoters. "We have been present at every Show held in Dunedin, and without claiming to possess any extraordinary intelligence, experience, or powers of observation, we are prepared to assert that the causes of the partial failure of Shows held there are—localisation of area, unnecessary centralisation in management, and, perhaps the most potent of all, the unwairantable claim that theyshould be regarded as the premier Shows in Otago, if not even in the Colony. Had such an Association as the Otago been in existence for a period of years, with an historical record of a prosperous and useful career, or had it in any mode or degree endeavored to develope the capabilities of the various local Societies in the interior, or did it even now hold put liberal encouragement to exhibitors from a distanoe by a revisal of its programme and rules, it might to some extent expect to have some claim to at least a recognition of the suitability of its name and of its aspiration to be the testing ground, of the excellence of exhibits

from all pai-ts of the Provincial District. But none of these conditions has it fulfilled, and there is no great probability of any greater liberality being shown in its programme or regulations, and hence we scarcely expect for its future career any marked improvement. With three Associations in existence holding Shows only a few miles from Duncdin, besides the Shows of other Societies not very greatly distant from the metropolis, there is no great reason for expecting any other result. The Directors of the Otago Association should be able to discern the necessity for a thorough change in their course of action, and to perceive also that it should be a change from isolation to combination. At the present era of our history as a Colony, there are far too many small, therefore feeble and uninfluential Associations throughout the Island. We would suggest as an improvement for the south of Otago that a union of a great number of the Associations should be made with the purpose of having established a really powerful Association, capable of having a Show of firstrate importance and value. We believe if an appropriate and friendly overture were made by the Directors of the Otago Association to the Taieri, Tokomairiro, Clutha, and the Peninsula Societies, that the desire to amalgamate would be reciprocated, and that ere long there would be established an Association having all the elements of substantial life, and for which we could safely predict a future history of uninterrupted success and usefulness. A significant and appropriate name for the suggested Association should be "The South Otago," and a suitable selection should be made for the Show Ground, which site, in our opinion, would be at the Taieri, near the railway line, being about midway between the extreme points of the proposed district. Such an amalgamation of Show districts was not possible until now, when easy and chea2> railway transit is provided ; but we confidently anticipate and believe that the formation of such a combined Association would be productive of far greater influence than can be expected from individualised local effort, and would afford another practical illustration of the sound truth of the motto " Union is strength." The North Otago Association has fairly established for itself an almost Colonial popularity, and the extensive area it embraces gives to it such a sphei'e of usefulness, that it fulfils, to our mind, most of the duties and work of an influential Association. The Waikouaiti and Shag Valley Association is, to a certain extent prosperous and useful, but it also should seek amalgamation with the Blueskin Association, fix its permanent Show Ground at PalnierLston, and change its name to that of the Midland Association of Otago. We do not believe in the efficacy of small local Shows to improve agriculture or stock breeding, neither do we wish to see district Associations having too wide a scope. The three suggested Associations, we are firmly of opinion, are all that is required to accomplish the objects aimed at. While advocating the reduction in the number of Associations for Show purposes we are very strongly in favor of the multiplication of Farmers' Clubs for the purpose of holding discussion meetings regarding every matter affecting the welfare of agriculturists and pastoralists. Such clubs are doing immense benefits in other countries, and once fairly established they would be found equally beneficial here. As to the propriety of a great number of the smaller associations combining, our opinion is strengthened by the fact that in Canterbury such combinations are being carried out with the view to greater efficiency. To show that the districts embraced by the associations which we suggest should be incorporated under the title of the South Otago do not in the aggregate exceed in importance and extent the districts connected with or more directly interested in the operations of the North Otago Association, we shall quote from a table of statistics for 1878 now before us. The total number of all descriptions of live stock in the Waitaki County is 674,685 (made up of sheep, 650,198; cattle, 15,310; and horses, 5198); and to this number may fairly be added one-half of the total number in Waimate County, viz., 287,342, or a combined total of 662,027; The southern counties to be connected with the South Otago Association show the following numbers: Taieri, 327,548. Bruce, 195,107; Clutha, 289,102 ;• and Peninsula, 9131—0r equal to a total of 810,888. If these relative figures are considered indicative of the sphere of operations to which the North Otago and the proposed South Otago should be confined, it must be apparent that the balance of importance is greatly in favor of the northern portion of the Otago district. A. reference to the returns of grain cultivated and of land under grass after cropping made up to February 1878 proves still more strongly that the Waitaki district alone, without

reckoning any part of the "VVaimate, lias an area under crop and grass equal, or nearly so, in extent to the districts previously alluded to. The total acreage under crop in the Waitaki was 57,241 acres, and in grass 541,816 acres, or a total of 142,057 acres. The Taieri district showed 27,095 in ci*op — 20,027 in grass; the Bruce district 14,164 in crop—27,l GG in grass ; the Clutha district 24,554 in cr0p—32,470 in grass ; or a total of 145,470, making a difference of only 3419 acres in favor of the three amalgamated districts. We have ventured to offer the above suggestions in the hope that the subject may fairly be discussed and considered, and although we are scarcely sanguine enough to see them immediately acted upon, yet we may fairly anticipate that one or two of the societies may be induced to try the experiment of having a larger area from which to draw exhibits to their show grounds.