SEVENTEENTH WINTER SHOW.

Otago Witness, Issue 2934, 8 June 1910, Page 31

SEVENTEENTH WINTER SHOW.

OPENED BY MINISTER OP AGRICULTURE.

A COMPREHENSIVE EXHIBITION.

GOOD QUALITY AND RECORD ENTRIES.

In June of 1894 the Otago Agricultural and Pastoral Association held its first winter show, and displayed, in the Garrison Hall, 225 exhibits. This number of entries was small, but conservative Otago has seldom been known to rush an innovation, and the society decided to continue its winter - gathering, and hope for better things. Next year (in 1895) the number of entries received jumped up to 475. This was encouraging, and the society, having now secured the goodwill of the people of the province, proceeded, with no little success, to make the winter show one of the most popular of annual fixtures. Almost year by year, for 17 years, entries have come forward in greater numbers —and it is aipparent to anyone that increased entries of produce indicate an increased attendance of country people, an increased volume of trade in the city during show week, and increased general interest in the show as a. whole. The following table, given for purposes of comparison, details the number of entries received 15 years ago, last vear, and -this year : 1895. 1909. 1910. Cattle and sheep ... Factory cheese 56 71 51 Farmers' butter. ... 50 81. 89 Factory butter Fruit and honey ... Bread, etc 90 261 281 Dressed poultry Hams and bacon ... 40 22 26 Grain Seeds 157 40 39 Potatoes, roots, etc.... 76 165 127 Wool .... ... School competitions Merchants' exhibits, dairy utensils, machinery, etc. ... Totals ... 469 1002 1011 The statement that " this year's winter show, in point of quality and quantity of entries is a record " is apt to become monotonous—yet it is necessary to so describe the society's seventeenth annual show, opened on May 31. Take the butter section as an example of the whole. This is how a man, eminently well qualified to speak, described it : " The show of factory butter is, in my opinion, quite the best that has ever been seen in this Dominion." In regard to the exhibit of cheese, there is remarks able unanimity of opinion. " Excellent," "splendid," "magnificent," are adjectives thrown freely about by enthusiastic sightseers. Unlike the butter exhibits, the cheese shown does not come from all over the Dominion, and compared with last year, there is a falling away in numbers. Not that there is in this any cause for alarm. Two or three .factories in Southland—hitherto loyal supporters of the society—have failed to come forward this year, and their exhibits are missed in the totals.

and the farm —yet that is what has happened, and the eye is gladdened and the palate tickled by the sight of the various fatness of the land in amiable juxtaposition. , The principal stream of humanity, contrary to the ordinary law of gravitation, flowed upstairs, and found much there that was gratifying. In one corner is an exhibit by the Southland Beekeepers' Association, showing, from a glass hive of wildly excited bees to pots of honey and cakes of wax, the great value of the apiary in the industries of the country. Along the opposite wall is the Government Agricultural Depai'tment's magnificent and useful exhibition, and in another place is a display of very interesting pictures of the early days, in chaTge of Mr J. Wood, secretary of the Otrfjo Early Settlers' Association. Two bays among others that catch the attention on this flat comprise a great collection of potted delicacies, shown by the Christchurch Meat Company, and Messrs A. and J. M'Farlane's splendidly dressed display of preserved meats. In another place, with a collection of apples from Alexandra, Messrs Howden and Moncrieff have done much to advertise the wonderful fruit-growing possibilities of Central Otago. But one misses, with regret, the absence of the Railway League's bays, which have apparently gone to join the district bays in the limbs of the past. Time was when these farmers' bays were a great feature of the show. Competition between them aroused interest, their arrangement excited admiration, and their contents disclosed the possibilities of rich and fertile districts. Last week,, at Balclutha show, a "farmer's bay" was exhibited by Mr J. Willocks, of Inchclutha, and attracted much attention. In times past the Otago Society has offered £25 for the best farmer's bay, and Mr Willocks began to prepare produce three years ago, with a view to enterfor this competition. But the society's last prize schedule only offered £5 for a farmer's bay, and Mr Willocks refused to incur the expense of bringing his splendid collection to Dunedin, where it must have' proved a big attraction. There seems to be a general wish that the society should resuscitate the farmers or the district bays' and a general regret that the railway leagues are now not active in advertising their respective districts. Much provision is being made for the amusement of patrons. Weight-guessing competitions are in full swing. The energetic president of the society (Mr W. J. Charters) has put on exhibition a fine Highland bullock for weight-guessing purposes. There are also fat, sheep on which expert judges may try their skill,, and, as usual, a big "cheese is being cut up and sold. Numerous side show men are plying their calling. A band is in attendance, and there are large tearooms open to do business. The work of the secretary (Mr H. V. Fulton) and assistant secretary (Mr Brent) and their staff cannot be too warmly recognised. They are running the big show as only such a function can be run under proper organisation and attention to details, while a general supervision is exercised by Mr Charters and the vice-president (Mr Loudon). The society's official catalogue offers a great amount of useful and necessary information' in handy form.

But butter and cheese, important products as they are, do not overshadow the other things on view. A lower floor is devoted wholly to fat stock —sheep whose .obesity is a joy to the pastoral eye, and who Lave great unconcern in the matter of their several careers ending profitably in a freezing works; cattle who chew a reflective cud, and affect not to see the enthusiastic butchers who examine them. Higher up, rows of long tables groan beneath fruit and honey, bread and scones, poultry, hams and bacon —all those things that avery self-respecting farmer produces for the improvement of his table and the benefit of his purse. A little further on we find something that represents the purely agricultural side of farming—gi-ain, seeds, potatoes, vegetables of all kinds.

But the unfortunate who is not a ! fanner, and finds as much to interest him in methods as in results, would do' well to walk in the machinery annexe. ' Here, in very great abundance; are the marvellous things of •engineering and mechanics, the triumphs of science. All sorts of labour-saving contrivances are whirling, humming, purring—a weird medley of sound. The general arrangement of the 1910 winter show will not be readily forgotten. The erection of a spacious addition to the Brydone Hall during the past year has given the society considerably more room for the display of its exhibits. This was not immediately apparent, but as a great crowd entered the' buildings in the evening, and spread itself over the alleyways without that pushing and scrambling and general bad temper usually inseparable from a winter show crowd, the benefit- of increased space was more readily recognised. Then the harmonious arrangement of colours, and Mr and Mrs E. A. Hamel's very artistic distribution of pot plants, palms, bowers, and greenery afford a pleasing picture. No one would dare suggest that the army of respectable attendants or the •many practical farmers thought of delicately blending colours when arranging the products of the dairy, the kitchen,