The Southland Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. Luceo Non Uro. WEDNESDAY, JUNE 17. 1914. THE SHOW.

Southland Times, Issue 17679, 17 June 1914, Page 5

The Southland Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. Luceo Non Uro. WEDNESDAY, JUNE 17. 1914. THE SHOW.

The expectation that the Winter Show this year would be held under conditions much more favourable to a thoroughly representative exhibition of the district’s resources than those which have obtained for some years past has not been fulfilled. This year the winter fixture of the Southland Metropolitan A. and P. Association is still handicapped by restricted accommodation, and in the circumstances it was not possible for the executive of the Association to make any change in the lines of the display. That the Show could easily be increased in size is a matter of common knowledge, but to increase the size of the Show at the present time would merely be to create difficulties for which no immediate solution can be offered. The Show must be adapted to the space available, and with respect to the size of the display and the character of the exhibits this year’s Show is very similar to its predecessors. The unfortunate loss of the Tyrone with the material for the roof of the new Show building on the A. and P. grounds prevented the completion of the structure at the anticipated date, and for a truly representative Show Southland must wait until next year. In all the circumstances this year’s Show must be classed as a distinct success. The increase in entries was quite satisfactory, and the exhibits are well up to the standard of quality which has made for Southland throughout the dominion a first-rate reputation as an

agricultural province. The products of the district are well represented, and the variety and quality of the exhibits provide eloquent evidence of the manifold activities of those who till the soli and of their success in their work. This year’s Show finds the farmers of the district at the close of a good season. It has been a good season for the dominion, and Southland has had its full share of the benefits of heavy production and high prices. For the most part the farmers are well pleased with the results which the year has yielded, and another such season will almost certainly have the effect of completing Southland's recovery from the unfavourable seasons of 1912 and 1913. In those years the conditions were quite abnormal, something quite foreign to the district’s ordinary experience. Such experiences, however, may be befall any part of the dominion, as witness the phenomenal rains and the heavy floods that occurred in many parts of the North Island last month at a time when Southland was enjoying mild, pleasant, autumn weather. We have to take the good with the had, and in Southland the good has very strongly predominated. The excellent season which is now closing has greatly strengthened Southland’s position, and, as we have said, another such season will bring the district to the full tide of prosperity. In every respect the outlook before the producers is encouraging, and the future may be awaited with confidence. All the available evidence goes to strengthen the conviction that the strongest position in the world's markets is held by those who appear in it as sellers of food and raw materials. In nearly every branch of production in which New Zealand is interested the supply is not keeping pace with the demand. The consumption of wool is increasing more rapidly than the production, and speaking roughly the same statement may be made with regard to such food supplies as meat and dairy produce. In all parts of the world there are countries which are withdrawing from the list of exporting countries because local consumption has overtaken local production and there is no longer a surplus to export. Countries which were exporters in certain lines a few years ago are now importers in the same lines, and the conditions are becoming ever more favourable to the country which has a large excess of food supplies and raw materials to sell in the world's markets. The best authorities agree that the outlook for wool, dairy produce and meat was never better than it is at the present time, and the farmers as a whole feel that their future prosperity is assured. , Of course, there are problems before those engaged in the industry, but the basis of prosperity is heavy production and remunerative prices, and so long as the rural industries are on this basis the problems that arise from time to time can be faced cheerfully. It is a matter for satisfaction that the prospects before farmers can be referred to in such terras, and one has only to look round such a display as that provided at the Winter Show to realise that under conditions which are favourable to the producers Southland must do well.