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Oamaru Mail, Volume IV, Issue 1197, 17 February 1880, Page 2

The announcement that New Zealand, j and particularly Oamaru, has been highly j successful at the Sydney International Exhibition in regard to the awards for agricultural produce reaches the Colony very opportunely, and on this account it is'even more welcome than it would liaye been under ordinary circumstances. We have now in the district two representatives of English farmers,' two practical and avowedly observant men, sent out specially to inspect the Colony and report upon its advantages as a field for the exercise of the energy and the investment of the capital of the very class of men who are pre-eminently suited to become good colonists. The visit of Messrs. Grant and Foster, the delegates from the Lincolnshire farmers, is exceedingly well timed. The harvest is in full sw'ng, and they will be able to see for themselves the adaptability of our soil for the production of cereals ; they will, we venture to think, be afforded an opportunity of viewing crops of all kinds that for their prolificness cannot easily be excelled in any grain-growing country in the world ; they will see also that farming in this Colony i 3 pursued upon something approaching a sound system, that most of the laborsaving implements that have aided to make a name all the world over for America as a systematic grain-producing land can be and are brought into use in New Zealand, and that, distant as the Colony is from Country, wheat at any rate can be profitably grown here for shipment to Great Britain. All these things they will learn for themselves by personal observation, and they will also doubtless notice —and as observant and practical farmers they can scarcely fail to do so—that the grain grown in the Colony is, while abundant in its nature, of excellent quality. The awards of t'ho prizes at the Sydney International Exhibition will leave no room for doubt upon this point, for they must clearly show that this season's grain is no exception to the rule. : For this reason, then, is the announcement that Oamaru has carried off a large number of prizes at the Sydney Exhibition all the more welcome. And let it be borne in mind that the exhibition is no mere colonial display—that it is on the contrary au exposition open to the whole world. We may therefore congratulate the district upon' the success which has been achieved at the great exhibition, and we may also be permitted to offer our congratulations not only to the successful exhibitors, but to those who grew the prize sam les