CHAMPION PLOUGHING MATCH

Southland Times, Issue 16784, 12 July 1911, Page 6

CHAMPION PLOUGHING MATCH

GOOD entries and good presses. The annual fixture of the Southland Champion Ploughing Match Association takes place . to-day, the convincing ground being a suitable field on the farm of Mr Thomas Fraser, Waianiwa. There is something of history connected with the farm on which conclusions are to be tried. At one time it was bought by the late' Mr Tom Sutton, a wellknown Southland identity, in the early seventies for £4 per acre. He held it for about a year and then sold out to Mr Lachlan, Fraser at £l2 per acre. The paddock which will be utilised to-day is not such an unbroken stretch as ploughmen have been favoured with in previous years; but it must be remembered that the grub this year has been very bad. hence the trouble. In the circumstances it may be assumed that competitors will cheerfully recognise the difficulty with which the Association has been faced, and lely on the judges discriminating between the good and bad rigs drawn. One of the features of the competition will be the working of two new* patent attachments for subsoilers. Mr Wm. Mcßae (Hedgehope) is the inventor of one, and the other is being exhibited by Mr Ewen McLoughlin (Springhills). The recent dry seasons have brought home to farmers the evident necessity of sub-soiling, and for this reason the merits of Messrs McRae’s and McLoughlin’s attachments, which are constructed on the revolvingblade principle, will no doubt be keenly discussed. The catering is in capable hands, and the vigorous canvass which was set up has resulted in a splendid response. In consequence the prize-list is a most generous one. The Champion Class has been well attended to In this respect, the first prize being Mr Donald Macdonald’s J. A. Mitchell Memorial Shield, £7 in cash, and a double-furrow plough which requires to won twice. For Class B a silver cup has been presented by Sir Joseph Ward, and the additional cash prizes are extremely liberal. The single-furrow class has allotted to it for first prize a trophy valued at two guineas, presented by Mr R. A. Anderson, In addition to a cash prize of £5 ss. For single diggers the first prize is £5. The other prizes are correspondingly good, and there are numerous special prizes, Including a gold, medal for Champion lot presented by the President (Mr Colin Gray). Last year there were twenty entries for all classes; this year twenty-six have been received. In the Champion Class eleven ploughmen have entered, and four of them, viz., Messrs U. and C. Hardy, John Turnbull, and A. Lindsay have a “ieg-ln” for the Reid and Gray double-furrow plough, and keen interest will be taken in the doings of this quartette. Mr Lindsay has this year won at both Drummond and Wreys Bush, and if lie manages to win the treble he will have accomplished a noteworthy feat. For the B Class six teams have entered, including two from Wyndham District, one each from Waimatuku, Drummond, and Aparima. Of the six intending competitors in the single-furrow class, one hails from Seaward Downs, one from Wyndham, one from Heddon Bush, one from Walau, and one from Invercargill. For the single-digger class there are three entries. A jumping competition will take place in an adjacent paddock, and for this Mr E. Quelch has donated a special prize. The turn-out of first-class teams promises to be an exceptionally good one, and competition is bound to be keen. Mr W. Gray will run ’busses to meet the morning train from Invercargill, and the 9.20 a.m. train from the Western district. Passengers on the Kingston line can connect with the 9.20 a.m. train from Jnvercargill at Makarewa. Passengers will be conveyed to Oporo in the evening. where the trains for Invercargill and the Western district cm .s. The Wallacetown ’bus which leaves -n*cn'argill at 11 a_m. will run right tlirm.',.. m the match, and a special ’bus will leave Invercargill Post-office at 1 p.m. Given a fine day. everything points to a highly successful gathering from every point of view. ’