MEMORIES OF FERTILE SOUTHLAND

Southland Times, Issue 23998, 13 December 1939, Page 21

MEMORIES OF FERTILE SOUTHLAND

-—Viscount Bledisloe

AS a farmer and as a sincere admirer of the enterprise and pluck of my fellow farmers in New Zealand, allow me through your columns to wish all success to New Zealand’s forthcoming Centenary Show —to be held in the fair capital city of your fertile Southland province—and to the whole agricultural community of the Dominion. My thoughts will be with them (as I wish that I could be in person) during the week of the show.

A period of war awakens the nationals of all countries to the realization that the land is the basic source of all wealth, sustenance and well-being, and husbandry the most vital and important of all industries. Amid the growing competition of other countries, practical knowledge and experience must be linked, continuously and progressively with science if the prosperity of New Zealand’s agriculture, and consequently of New Zealand herself, is to be maintained in days to come. To the attainment of this objective I feel sure that Southland will contribute its full share. I am happy in the recollection of finding within the borders of Southland and Otago (inter alia) some of the best Ayrshire cattle, Clydesdale horses and cheddar cheeses that I have ever come across and also some of the most striking illustrations of the beneficial effects of liming sour land which is otherwise* fertile. I trust that the show will beat all records in the excellence of its exhibits and in its educational value. , BLEDISLOE. Lydney Park, Gloucestershire, England.