THE CAT SHOW.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume I, Issue 115, 20 June 1914, Page 11

THE CAT SHOW.

BEAUTIFUL PERSIANS ON EXHIBITION. ALL AGES AND SIZES. [Written for THE SUN.] Cats of all sizes and ages, some curled up luxuriously on cushions that blended with their complexions, and some burrowing in the straw with which their cages are lined, —that gives a picture of the cat show which opened in the King Edward barracks this morning. They were very quiet and dignified, enduring in silence the ill-fortune which, for some reason quite incomprehensible to them, took them away from a warm fiireside to a cold and inhospitable region where warmth and cat comfort was not.

Their owners, hovering near the cages, endeavoured to soothe them with words of soft sympathetic caresses, — those who had hands slim enough to go through the bars, that is. But unlike their neighbours, the clamorous canaries, the ducks and the fowls, they made no plaint beyond a subdued "mew" now and again. The cat, after all, is an animal of considerable philosophy.

There was a dear soft bundle of fur just the colour of smoke-drift when it rises from the camp fire at nights,—a Persian kitten that looked out on life with the calm eyes of an aristocrat, refusing to own to any perturbation of spirit or sense of discomfort, refusing to admit the injury his pride was suffering at being enclosed in a nasty little iron cage, with a crowd of strange people staring at him. He curled himself up on his velvet cushion of royal blue, which brought out the delicate tint of his coat so beautifully, and toned with the silken bow tied about his soft neck. Evidently the pet of some ... fond mistress —and didn't he know it!. ~ Only one door, removed from him was a mother cat—a brown Persian with her four babies —they were mixed up in a glorious bundle of heads and tails and soft paddy paws, and refused the most pressing invitations to as much as disclose an eye. A pure white cat sat up proudly and, like the village blacksmith, looked the whole world in the face, for she feared not any man. She looked most militant —I suspect her of suffragette tendencies. There was a cat that only wanted multiplying a few dozen times to be a tiger. He had the tawny stripes, the cruel green-yellow eyes, the . sharp, wicked claws of the tiger—he didn't match a bit with his next cage neighbour, a dear old tabby who would purr for anyone's stroking! I The sardonic pessimist that Louis. Wain j loves'to depict looked out from the next i cage—a huge black cat who sat hunch- ■' ed in a corner,' prepared for the worst, \ and also, by the ironical gleam in' his j topaz eye's, prepared to .rather enjoy i it when it came. Talking of black \ cats, there were .dozens of them on view • —enough to be luck-bringers for all; Christchurch, one would think. Black I cats are so.very lucky, you black they must be, without so much as a single white hair. There was a dear wee black kitten amongst them that any eighteenth century witch might have been proud to perch on her shoulder, of such a raven and consistent ' blackness was he. !

After the judging, morning milk was served to many of the cats by fond owners, but few of them touched it. A patrician Persian had a repast of cooked and raw.. meat, and a glass dish of milk, set before him, but he gazed on it with the cold eye of utter disdain. "Not for me," eloquently said that chilly glance and scornfully arched back. "Poor puss is shy," said his owner commisenitingly, but poor puss merely looked sulky. Perhaps he had gone through a large and unauthorised mouse menu before he left. Perhaps he was hunger-striking, and wished, appropriately enough, to be released under the '' Cat-and-Mouse'' Act. One never knows. In the short-haired classes was a mixed looking cat whose; hair was so short that it looked as if you had run the lawn-mower over him. He didn't look right, somehow. A cat's hair should be sotf and silky, and of moderate length, but his was short and scrubby looking, and not a bit silky. He had a rather downcast look, so perhaps he realised and deplored his deficiency. More goes on behind the sombre, brooding, Sphinx-like eyes of a cat than you or I realise, ray masters. But go and see the baby Persians, and don't forget to look for the smokejfeoMured one on the roval blue cushion. r',;..; '.. ' 5.1.8. THE AWARDS. This morning the awards in the cat section of the Poultry Show were made by Dr C. J. Russell and Mr F. Bijcgs. There were 130 entries —a reeord for the Dominion—and the results were as follow:PERSIAN. -Chinchilla. —Male, over 1.2 months <G) : Miss M, M. Otlcy 1, Miss 1). Cox 2, H. H. Lane 3, Mrs B. O. Moore 4- Female, over 12 months (4): Mrs W. Trcvursa 1, Mrs.B. O. Moore 2. Female, under 12 months (3): Mrs 3. Forward 1, Mrs C. Briee 2. Smoke. —Female, over 12 months (2) : Mrs A. B. Menzies 1, Mis Adams 2. Male, under 12 months (1): Mrs T. J. . Thompson 1. Female, under 12 months: Mrs Chas. Briee 1, Miss Rogers . 2.' Blue.—Male, over 12 months (4): Mrs Claxton 1, Mrs W. Trevurza 2, Mrs C. Briee 3. Female, over 12 months (1): Mrs C. Briee 1. Male, under 12 months (1): Miss Rogers 1. Female, under 12 months (3): C. J. Johnson 1, Miss Rogers 2. Black.—Male, over 12 months (1): Miss Rogers 1. Female, over 12 months (3): A. L. Flockhart 1, K. Gudsell 2, Mrs R. M. Barr 3. Male, under 12 months (1): Mrs R. M. Barr 1. Tabby, brown or . grey. —Male (4): C. J. Johnson 1, Mrs Chaplin 2. Any other colour male (1): Mrs F. Bowen 1. Any other colour female (1) : Mrs West 1. Neuter. —Smoke (4): E.. Rice 1, Miss Appleyard 2, W. H. Gulliver 3. Any other colour (11): Mis C. Briee. 1, B. P. Dix 2, Miss I. Fisher 3, Miss M. Hunt 4. Persian Kitten. —Under 8 months (21): Miss N. Yates 1, Mrs M. J. Clark 2, Miss J. Cooper 3. Under 4 months (12) : Mrs A. G. Yates 1, Miss Rogers 2, Mrs W. Gooseman 3. Litter of Kittens (1): Miss Rogers 1. SHORT-HAIRED. Dark tabby (2): E. Borough 1. Mrs Hall-

sey 2. Light tabby (1): Mrs Henwood 1. Black (5): Mrs H. Presley 1, A. Tindall 2, Mrs M'Gibbon 3. Any other variety (7): Miss Huston 1, F. Jacobscn 2. Largest eat (1): H, Harrow 1. CHILDREN'S CLASSES. Pet rersian, over 12 months (8): Miss 1. Steel 1, Miss N. Briee 2, Master B. Bradford 3, Miss F. Smitli 4.; under 12 months (4): Miss Elsie Bedwell 1, Miss D. Hunter 2, Master W. Thompson 3. Any colour, shorthaired, over 12 months (9): Miss I. Hunter 1, Miss E. Button 2, Miss N. Burrows 3; under 12 months (5): Miss Abbott 1, Miss J. Cooper 2. Special Prizes.—Best eat in show: Mrs West; reserve: Mrs A. B. Menzies.

THE POULTRY SHOW. To the Editor of THE SUN. Sir, —You deserve praise for drawing special attention to the Poultry Shew. It is undoubtedly a credit to the industry. Could you do something to awaken a greater interest in the industry by the Government. It declares itself on the side of the small man and the worker. It desires to encourage the smaller settlement system. How can it strengthen its conviction better than encouraging poultry keeping. Thousands of pounds could be added annually to the Dominion's production by encouraging farmers to devote more care to poultry as a side line. The export trade has great possibilities, but we »eed more instructors. The fruit has about twenty, the honey four, the poultry industry (which is bigger than the two together) has one instructor. Some time ago Burnham was closed, and we farmers were promised a demonstration farm nearer Christchurch, but two years have gone by and nothing has been done. Promises have been made, but there has been no practical movements In no better way can the Government help the'suburban resident or the farmer to increase his income than by poultry keeping. The splendid birds at the show are a credit to the country. . I am sure the Department of Agriculture deserves . great, praise for its exhibit. It is worth travelling xnany miles to see. It would pay to keep the exhibit there a day or two next week arid every child in our town and suburban schools Should see what the country can do. It seems a pity that such a splendid exhibit should not be viewed by every farmer in the province.—l am, etc.,

A CANTERBURY FARMER. June 19, 1914.

THE POULTRY INDUSTRY.

i To the Editor of THE STW. I Sir, —With the exception of the "Dominion," I do not remember having seen any of the dailiejj/iri our ; four centres devote a leader:* to the poultry industry. You are to be complimented for drawing attention to the poultry show in last night -s SUN, also for the advanced views you expressed in relation to the poultry industry. Poultry keeping is essentially open to! the man of '' small means,'' and you do good service to draw the attention of those represented by this class to the advantages of keeping poultry. Poultry farming for a living is suitable only for those, who have had practical experience and who have capital to work with, but as an adjunct either for the workingman or the farmer, the keeping of a few poultry contributes > a fair profit. We are living in an age when more extras are required. How is the worker to secure them? Wages do not increase very much; and if they do the purchasing power is correspondingly restricted by incrased prices of products; A worker must look to his resources. This system is the only solution of increased income and realisation of advancement to better living. How many hundreds in ouf suburbs have vacant sections i that could be profitably used for poultry ! keeping. A hundred, pullets will eas-| ily give a man an extra £1 a week clear. ! His wife and family will take pleasure j in assisting to care for them, and learn many lessons at doing so. By the intensive system, a wjprker can easily house a 100 birds on a very small piece of ground, and in addition to-profit the birds will, as you so aptly put it, "produce a welcome addition to the larder and help in the solution of the cost of. living problem." Our table poultry demand is insufficiently, supplied, and you wiJl regret with me that Canterbury has recently had to refuse an offer front Australia for £SOOO worth annually for table poultry, owing to insufficient supplies. It has since been given to France. Why could our workers and farmers not enjoy the spending of that sum with so little exertion? You are among the few pressmen who do good service in drawing attention to the advantage of poultry keeping. Last Saturday 's Sydney '' Telegraph'' gave half a page of illustrations of poultry exhibited at the Poultry Show, and in the | same'issue, the Secretary for Agricul-j •tureys -addressing- poultryinen, stated! that.the Government of Australia was j setting aside a large sum to develop! what he admitted had beeii a neglected j industry. If workers will begin in a ! modestway, and keep a few good birds, i under intelligent methods, they will be j surprised to find what the hen can do. The Americans are among the foremost to assign the hen to her true position in declaring her to be for man's use the most profitable creature in existence.— I am, etc., J. B. MERRETT. July 19. 1914.