ROYAL SHOW OPENS

Stratford Evening Post, Issue 47, 11 December 1929, Page 6

ROYAL SHOW OPENS

DISPLAY AT INVERCARGILL CATTLE ENTRIES MAKE RECORD INViiIICAHUILL, Dee. 10. Lou* 1 weeks of uiduous preparation' and active eo-oporatiori culminated today when the lioyal Snow, under the auspices of the Southland Agricultural una Pastoral Association, opened on the spacious and picturesque ground adjacent to the town. The weather wi overcast but lino, and the attendance for the 'opening day was quite satisfactory. At the opening ceremony, Mr W. Perry, president or the Royal Agricultural Society, presided. Their - lencies, Sir Charles and Lady Alice Fergusson, were present, also the Hon. G W. Forbes (Minister of Agncultare) and the Hon. P. A. Do la 1 erelle and Mrs B. B. Wood, who represented her father, Sir Joseph VVard. In the course of his speech, the Gov-ernor-General said that it was an extraordinarily painful thing to urn to notice in going round the schools how few boys were going in for farming as a vocation, instead, they all appeared to be going into professions and into occupations which would keep them in the town. Tins, he felt was due to the terror, felt by the boys for something of which they knew nothin- Personally, he felt that more instructional schools might lead more of the boys of the Dominion on to the hind, where the prosperity of the country really lay. There was, he- knew, a great opening for properly-trained boys on the laud. It meant hard work, as" everyone knew, but he could not feel that that would deter Now Zeahuulers, with the traditions of the pioneers behind them. Mrs B. P. Wood read a message from Sir Joseph Ward, expressing regret foi non attendance and best wishes for the success of the show. A feature of the fl'aovv is the cattle section, in which competition was extremely keen, and which is described by some judges a the best they have ever seen in New Zealand. The cattle entries total 638, us compared with 490 at Palmerston North in 1928, 491 at Ghristchurch in 1927, 568 at Auckland in 192'J, 479 at Ghristchurch in 1925, and 558 at the first Royal Show held in Palmerston North in 1924. The sheep section is also a particularly strong one and is considered to be easily the best, both, as regards numbers and quality, seen at the local fixture. The total entries this year number 2.120, compared with 1203 at the last Southland Show and 2057 at the previous Koyal Show.