THE ROYAL SHOW

Southland Times, Issue 22499, 8 December 1934, Page 7

THE ROYAL SHOW

QUALITY LIVESTOCK. MANY VISITORS EXPECTED. Invercargill, palpitating, eager and a little nervous, awaits the Royal Show. There are feverish comings and goings in the office of Mr A. L. Adamson, secretary of the A. and P. Association; a score of officials throughout Southand and further afield are worried by the burden of things to be remembered; the Showgrounds after being in the hands of workmen for months past are ready to receive the Grand Parade with its kaleidoscope of life, colour and action. Soon the tents and decorated stands will be up, blazing with electric light in the evening. In short, arrangements are almost completed for the staging of the best balanced Royal Show, as far as livestock are concerned, ever to be held in the Dominion. Apart from wool and lamb, cattle, as represented in the dairy and beef industries, constitute a, large portion of the national bulwarks, and are likely to become even more important as time goes on. New Zealand is still essentially a pastoral country, and quality in its breeding stock, therefore, must be maintained at all costs. The 1934 Royal Show will demonstrate conclusively that New Zealand has both the cattle and the men to produce the necessary drafts for farm and station. In the cattle section there is a total entry of 719. Beef breeds are rather poorly represented, but there is an excellent representation of dairying breeds. In the senior Friesian yearling class there are no fewer than 28 entries.

There is nearly double the usual entry in the sheep section, and in consequence, nearly 300 extra pens ‘have had to be erected. Arrangementshave been made to accommodate all uncovered sheep, crossbred sheep, fat sheep and fat lambs in the pens without roofs. The increased interest being taken in the bacon industry is reflected in the pig entries, which greatly outnumber the totals of former years. Not even in the halcyon days before the motor truck and tractor drove Dobbin from the roads and paddocks in such large numbers was Southland able to produce better horses than now. The depression has made people turn to simpler things in the country as well as in the city, and one of the most important changes has been the return to the horse for draught and saddle work. Satisfaction will be felt by horse-lovers and the public generally at the fact that the display of Clydesdales on Wednesday morning will be one of the finest ever seen in New Zealand. The light horse sections have drawn many entries, North Canterbury being well represented. The 1934 Royal Show will bring many hundreds of visitors to Invercargill who will carry away with them very favourable recollections of the number and quality of the livestock on exhibition. It will be a great show, great in every sense of the word, and must turn

people’s minds not only to what science and breeding can do for the stockgrower, but also to the righes and promise of the land.