TARANAKI AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XXIV, Issue 62, 5 March 1902, Page 2

TARANAKI AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY.

There wss a very fair attendance o members at the annual meeting of thi Society which was held on Saturda; last, Mr. J. C. George presiding. The report of tha President, Mr Newton King, referred to the balance sheet which showed the Sooiety nov had £BO to its tredit, besides a com pktdy new set of yai>ds, which, uneei t'dinary eirourastanc'S, would mse requirements for some years to come H« had for a long time been a steady advocate for the amalgamation of a least three of the West Coast Societies so strengthening and centreing thi interest in agricultural matters making the annual Show more adapt able to the interests generally both o settlers exhibiting and of the genera public. The Shows would', und«r sue! alt-ornate between th( several c-nttes. In connection witl noxious wieds ho recommended th< .Society taking decided action as it wai app!r?nt the local Inspector has con aid'jrably mors work than he coulc undertake. He suggested a resolutiot ba requesting tha Minister t< appoint forthwith a temporary officer to assist Mr. Itowau ii having the necessary clearances effected He recommended that the Society should aj-reo with the Borough Uounci and promote the necessary legislatiot for exchanging the Sk, Germain'] square reservo of 14 acres for ahou seven acres near the High School Owing, to the Society's Oup having boen won by the Maketawa Factory i was necessary to authorise the com mittee to secure another for compati fcion. He announced having receiver. T.he following generous offer from Mi FT. Weston, which was received witl applause. " With a view to the en courageinfnfc of a better and mori advanced system of dairy firming it Taranaki, I have a proposal to toaki which your Society will uo doubt b< prepared to nss'st in giving effect to Briefly, it is that in connection witl the Society's Hiiuoal Show a dairy faro competition should b-s held upon some what similar liaes to thow held ii Oan'erbury, Victoria, pnd elsewhere My idea is that the eompe'itiooshoaU be limited to farmers whose farm range from 80 to 250 acres, and tha in making the awards consideratioi should be given to the geu«ral oorwli tion of the farms, th«ir fencing, build ings, pastures, and freedom from nox ious weeds, to the farm stock, anc implements, and to the returns fron tbe cows and other sources of incomi from tho land. The' dotails would o course require careful working out ii experienced hinde, and if your Society should fall in wiih the idea a smnl committee might ba appointed at you annual meeting to assist me in diafting the necessary regula'ionp. lam pre pared to give the snm of £4O, to bi divided as follows:—lst prize, .£25 2nd, £lO ; 3rd, £5 ; or if the Sociotj should see its way to augment thi amount I would like to give a firsl prize of £4O, leaving the Society t fjivo such other prizes as it thi\ik3 fit, With regard to tbe judging, I should expect the Society to undurtake thii>, and no rf-uibfc thera arf Tliorttishly capable and impartial men upon ifcn executive who would willingly undertake the du'ies without fee. The only ontrance fee I would propise is that competitors must besome members of your Society. In addition to the prizes I would, of course, do all advertising and printing in connection with the competition free of charge. As one of my chief objects is to popularise and exteod the usefulness of your Society, I trust that tbe scheme will meet with your approval and co-operrtion." Tha President, in his report, recommended tha appointment of a special :ommittee, with the fullest powers, to give effect to> t';e proposal. He expressed a hop? thai sp?cial methods should ba adop'ed to sscure each year m improved exhibition of dairy stock it our local show, and he suggested a r arm to farm canvass of the district jrior to the next show for proniisos to mpport by the entering for competition )f of a higher grade character, "n conclusion, hn thanked the memlers for the confidence p'aced in him >y twjee electing him president. Ho vould always do all in bis power to forvard the Society's interest, at the samn ime he considered thai a change should )9 made. !

The bahnee-slieet showed receipts including .£69 16s 8d halation from last year, to be £471 15s 6d, and the expenditure £391 5s 6d. Tho Society had £BO in deposit at 5 per cent., and there was a balance of £lB6 19s lid in assets over liabilities.

After some discus don the report and balance sheßt were adopted. The question of amalgamated shows was then discassed, and i' waa deeded to approach the Wanganui and Egmont Societies on the matter.

It was also decided that a telegram be srnt to the Minister for. Agriculture askirg for the. appointment of an assistant inspector to de-»l with noxious weeds. After an explanation by Mr Okey, the special committee appointed in connection with the proposed exchanges wore instructed to complete negotiations. A resolution congraiaVJng tbe Maketawa Company on winning the cup outright pass»d, A new cup ia to be procured lay the committee. On the motion of thn Chairman it was riecidodjita instruct tho cumenittee to arrange the show so as to hive a good representation of dairy cowp. j A hearty vote of thanks was accorded to Mr Weston for his offered prize, and Messrs Okey, Adlam and ' King were appointed a committee to j confr-r with Mr Weston as tocondi-! dtioni.

I The following officers w,?re ! President, Mr N. King. Committee, Messrs W. Ambury, J. 0, Georg->, R. King, H. Barnitt, J. (Jrockett, A. Munro, H. B. Lepper, B. Olson, H. Linn, Parham, Stan Smith, ,>. G. Hurkness, C. W. Govetr, Jas. Hopper, C. T. Mil's, G. W. Tate, W, Stanley, P. Morris, G. Ad]am, A. Souther J. W. Honeyfield, E. P. Ru°sell, G. Colson, C. Well", R. Horrocks, S. W. Shaw, and Jas. Heslop. Auditors, Messrs Cock t*nd Saxon.

Mr lepper brought up th« question of measuring horses on level ground. - It was decided to fix a time for the measurement r,f horses, fho Seoi'-tj'iT 'xpl*i»ed how it was that a s t er <\>g got into tiie collie class at the lis-show, and sd !rd that tbe matter would bo brought bfire the commi tee.