ROYAL SHOW PROJECT

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

ROYAL SHOW PROJECT

Mr W. M. C. Denham, M.P.

IT is a little over 30 years since the Southland Agricultural and Pastoral Association conceived the idea of holding a Royal Show. Fate seems to take a special delight in placing obstacles and adversity in the path of those who set out to do something vzorth while. This movement was no exception to the rule, for it was in 1907 that the Southland body made its first move, and after a good deal of difficulty, the effort came to fruition in 1924 when the first Royal Show was held in Palmerston North.

The advent of the Royal Show was something worth while, and its decided success must be a fitting reward to those whose efforts made it an accomplished fact. This Centennial Royal Show will form the centre where the best achievements, particularly of the farming industry, will be on display. A picture of some of New Zealand’s greatest achievements will be presented. The farmer will see for himself the latest farming machinery and equipment and he will learn more of the technique and changes in the methods of farming. The exhibits will

inspire men to make future efforts to advance. There are many avenues yet to be explored and latent powers to be exploited. Success and progress will be made, but neither progress nor suc-

cess are the products of chance or luck; they are the result of intelligently directed efforts. The great storeroom of Nature has much more hidden wealth, ready to be discovered and

utilized. The present era in agriculture is different from tire era of yesterday and will be different from that of tomorrow. The exhibits now displayed will give us some idea of what discoveries have been made. The show will cause us to cast our minds back to the pioneering days; also it will help us visualize the future. The farmers’ business is inevitably interwoven with other industries. He cannot possibly live as a separate unit. The chemist, the engineer, the waterside worker are as necessary to him as is a ploughman or a shearer. The show will serve the valuable purpose of bringing us into contact with the wonder world of science, and add new territory to our domain of thought, as well as create fresh and new interest in our lives. The enthusiast, the specialist, will dedicate his time and energies to further effort in some branch of scientific activity, and so endow his life with increasing purpose to add to the sum total of human achievement. I offer my heartiest congratulations to the Agricultural and Pastoral Association, also to those whose contributions take us another step upward to a higher and more wonderful development. W. M. C. DENHAM. Invercargill.