OTAGO AGRICULTURAL AND PASTORAL ASSOICATION.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 7287, 25 June 1885, Page 3

OTAGO AGRICULTURAL AND PASTORAL ASSOICATION.

Tho annual meeting of this association waa held in the hall of tbe Chamber of Commerce yesterday afternoon, and was attended by about 30 members, the President (Mr T. Brydone) in tbe chair. BEPOBT. At tbo sugge3tion of the chairman, tha following report for tbe year 1884 and tbe accompanyiug balance-sheet were taken as read: —

Iho committee, in reliriwjr from bffijo, have much enlitfaciicii in (wngritulatiujr the rncaabora of tho £S3aiiatlou on possessing a ground cl their own suitable in ovoty way f.r their nqr.lremeuts. ' Tho reclamation cfthe exndhills vras vigorously token in hund irumedntoly uftit lait general meeting with such succoes that not only was it possible to use the now ground Jo: tbe horse parade on October 2, but the commi.teo were iri a position to hold the annual Bbow upr.n it, and to ask tho Governor cf the Colony t) attend. Hla Excellency kindly accepted tbe invitation, and tho appropriate namo ol "Tahuna Park" W&8 cfiHa ly t,ivcn by him cv iho £7th .November to what was previous!}' a banco waste, but ia now la every respocta " parlc" wi..h accommodation tot show purp:sos sec.nd to none in tho Colony. Tho expenditure involved in making this transformation hivi exceeded tho origical estimate, but the »cc3m>"odalion provided lie etcck ia much more oxtanviva than w;»3 at first proposed. By referring to the balance-sheet it will be eeen that £593112s Id haa been spent dining the financial year, which, added to £317 23 piid tha previous year, makes a total of £32)8 143 Id, or a cost of Bay £193 per acre on 17 !»c;ea rudaluied. Tho coaimitsee havo no doubt whattvor that sufficisnt roveaue to me«s the lnteresS en Join will bi derived very shortly Irom iett ng tho park for recr.auon acd oihor purposes, leaving ary Bu:plus from tbe show to b3 applied to incteasin^ the prizsmoney and improving iho ar/augements generally. They feel strongly, howsver, that it w.ll bo only an act of justice on tho part ol Government to grant to the asMK'Ution tha freehold of tho ground upon whiih so much money b»} bscn spens, and rcc;inmond their oucccasoM to make a strenuous effort, with tho cooparation of the city and suiurbau msmbara, to attain thia end timing th 9 eornk-g session.

The iast enow waa a marked eucCiSJ, tho entries in every cla^B oxcopS merino theep and light horaea showing a conMurableincrease,numbeiinj;:ltog6thcr 1013, against 788 in 188' i. It is hoped that breeders ol rnoriuo sheep, in which class OWgo haa always been ptoominenb, will sea it to bo to their iniereat to como lonvard next year, and that tho incoming omniiMco will use eyeiy endeavour to etuJy tho convenience ol exhibitor from v. ulataDCD, upan whoso pr«wonc3 tho Buccasa o( tho show largely depends. la ccEC'.usiin, tho committeo deslro to expreeß their best thanks to the citizens oJ Dunedin lor tho liberal oupptirii thoy have always secoided tho association, from ita kitiatiou in 1677 up to tho jreLont time.

The Chairman, in moviDgthe adoption of tho report, said ha would liko to have soen a much larger collection of farmers present. He did not know whether their farming operations at tha Toieri oc elsewhere had prevented them from attending, but he did not think they were lacking in interest, for the association had navor sinco it started had Buch n successful show as that of last year. Probably there were other reasons for the nbaenca of the farmers. They might think that the business ot the association was pxetty safe in the hands of the present committee, which was of course n, compliment to the latter. As the report was a fall one ho would mttke only a few remarks upon it, They were all aware that tho attention of the committee had been chiefly directoa to the preparation of tha new ground at Tahuna Park, and although these grounds had cost a good deal more money than was anticipated, still he thought the universal verdict of all who had seen them would be that they wero ia every way Buitablo for the purpose and that the reclamation of the ground had been a succoeb. Oho causo for the additional expenditure web that the show had been held when the ground was a little raw and ooft, and this had entailed some outlay to put it in proper order again. It was the same in tho case of a review held there a couple of months ago. The committee were anxious of courao to Beciue the review so that people mizht see the ground and take an interest in it. But with regard to the show itself they had never had a moie successful one. The increase in tho number of entries was 215, and the entry money was £50 more than the previous year. Tbo receipts and expenditure altogether oompared very favourably with that o£ any previous year. In 1883 they bad a debit balance of £50, and this year

there was a credit balance, lojkj«£ •* $* WorkiDg of the, show itself, of £211. me prize-money was also greater this year by over £12 n tb»n tbo previouo year; so altogether, he rhonoSf 'Wait Hn^,"'^ Position of the aooiety Hiongtit, the tinauv^,, : '-factory. He might bs loofc'ea UpOii 38 ?Wfs«»~-.. —mh U& coWinced .that flow *Wj«* " •&:= good RSoofcfnoitalM for tttf .**«« %J could be comforta'blg iii bffl wfnJgS""].? horses and cattle urlder eovor, and 6G3 Sheas in nioo dry, worm.peus, tfhere water would iievSr lie^that people would send their atcck to the show with fco^fidsnee. ijnowing tea animals would to well cared for, SfiiV tH» committee, ho thought, would get exhibitora to comfl from, a greater distance than wht. before. Tho ootnuiittea hopeq to sea exhibits coma" freffi Ohriatcharch in large numbers, and also from the E?otitalan!> district. They would like very, much to, have, done something in the way of an industrial exhibition ).u ooanaction with the society, uut up to the present they had tot sssa their way, owing to the'scarcity of .fund* ■ it VfOiilA bo for the naw,committee to see what the Government would do in a matter of that kiud. It wits to be hoped they would do something, and that in the event of an exhibition being held here it would be at Tahuna Park. With, regard to the expenditure upon the ground, they bad epont altogether £3248. The fencing, buildings, plant, &c, came to £1351, and removing the sandhilts-, levelling the ground, roadmakiag, &c, to £1897. Part of this had,been, provided for, as could be seen, by raising £2565 on debentures, and the bulk of the balance was owing to the bank. They expected during the coming yeav to be able to pay off a good deal of tho overdraft from income of one kind and another from the Park, and it would not be necessary to raiso any more money on debentures in tha meantime, at least until, they wanted something more permanent in the shape oi a big btiildihg to. hold exhibitions of butter aad local industries in. At fc!ia prßs?ri6 time fannera were not in such a flourishing condition a3 could be wiehed, and money was scarce, so the committee did not want to call upon them more than was necessary. It would be for the incoming committee to guide the affairs of the aosociation during next year, but theaa had been tha ideas of tho. retiring committee. The report also referred to; assistance the committee had received from the. citizens of Dunedin by contributions and otherwise. The fipeakor had to thank them heartily for what they had done, and hoped they would continue to support the association in the future. Tahuna Park would, he thought, be a placo much resorted to by the people for recreation and sports in the future. It was tho largest piece of ground of the kind within easy reach of Dunoctin, and it was close to the sea, whore tho beat and most braoing air could, bo obtained. The place should therefore ba a great attraction to the citizens and of groat service to them bye-nnd-bye, Mr Souter seconded tho adoption of the report and balance-sheet. Ha was convinced that tha small attendance at tho mooting was not for lack of interest in the association. More iDtereßt waa taken iv the Duuedin Bhow than ever b3foi'o.

The motion wa3 carried unanimously, COMI'LIJHiNTARY.

Mr W. L. Simpson moved a vote of tbanka to tho outgoing coinmitleo for their services. There bad been a little feeling of rivalry excitod among tho Christohuroh people and thsy wero going to get a larger ground, so he hoped the now committee would go on improving tho Dunodin ground and in every way carry out tho objects for which it was intended. The Chakman retnrned thanka for the compliment, and was glad the meeting was pleased with tho manuor in which the committee bad performed their duties. The work of superintending and directing improvements had, of course, fallen upon the shoulders of three or four of them who bad consequently to take upon themselves responsibilities of which tho othora might not quite have appoved However, they had done their beat, and endeavoured to. carry out the work at as little expense as possible. Ou the motion of Mr Sinclair, a vote of thank 3 was passed to the gentiomen who had provided drags to take the children of the Industrial School to tho ground, and also to thoso who bad provided thorn refresbmento. ELKCriON OF OFMOE-BEAREBS. Mr J. Roberts had much pleasure in moving tbat Mrßrydone bo re-elected to the office of president for tho coming year. He had been the lif3 and soul of the Tahuna Park work, in trying to get the place in proper order, and as this work was not yet thoroughly completed^ ha would confer a bonefit upon tbo association by acceptive; the position for another year, Mr D. STKONAbH seconded the motion, which was carried unanimously. ' Mr Bni'DONE briefly returned thaDka. On tba motion of Mr Soutek, /seconded by Mr I'eakk, M r G. Gray Russell was re-elected vice-president. Mr G. G. Rtr?EELL returned thanka, and took the opportunity of referring to tho vigour which had been displayed by the President The following office-bearers wera then elected: Treasurer, Mr \V. Cunningham Smith j veterinary surgeons, Messrs J. G, Douglas and S. Slesinger; committee, Messrs James Allan, R. Charters, G. Dowsa, T, H. Dodson, X, B. Ferguson, H. Gourley, P. Grant, C. W. Kerr, A, Macfarlane, -L. Maclean, W. Patrick, W. L. Philp, J. F. Peake, John Raid, John Roberts, G. Ruthsrford, M. Sinclair, James Sband, W. Souter, G. L. Sisa, E. J. Sponce, D. Stronach, W. D. Sutherland, and W. H. Tafjgart.