AGRICULTURAL SHOWS.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIC, Issue 14056, 13 November 1909, Page 6

AGRICULTURAL SHOWS.

CANTERBtJRY METROPOLITAN ••THE PEOPLE'S DAY."

(Special—By Telegraph.)

CHHISTCHURCH, Nov. 12. fay justly Skylit to themselves for the ah the big exhibit on Yesterday waTthe concluding da> visitors were fron, Poetically all parte of Beautiful weather prevailed and _.!«. Sow passed off .under toe ansnices The attendance was ve.y Steing estimated at 35,000 which rlbout tte same as for the corresponding day last year. Among those Resent was Sir J. G. Ward, the Prime Minister. _ , , While all sections of the show attracted interest, yesterday and came in for keen scrntmy, the chief attraction in the jndgmg rings was the horse* of which there was a bic collection. The draughts were a good lot, the hacks and harness horses were also eood, and though there were some well bred and stylish ponies this section was not quite up to the standard of (some former years. The championship for draught stallions went to the imported horse Baron Everest owned by Mr J. D. Wylhc, Mr W Saunder's Major Stewart coming second, and the Ashburton horse, Bakn Carlton third. In the class for three year,old entires, Mr ±. laytor's Jay Garland scored a well merited win. There was a very creditahl: lot of draught mares, fillies, and geld£gs°and nearly all were.turned cu as fit as hands and good feeding couU make them. In the class for draught noare with foal Mr T. Liken's Moss Hose added one more to her- list ot victories, being placed at the top m a hie class. The pairs of geldings and mares and also the fonr-borse teams constituted a very fine feature of the section and were greatly admired. Of tradesmen's turnouts there was a show, and many of the competitors had gone to an infinite amount of trouble in dressing their horses and vehicles no to show ring form. Blood horses were very sirnll nn-ner-icallv, th«re b«irig only four st-dlinns and" of these Mr P. Miller's Euclid was placed first. Of the ponies, the most nttm-tiv? feature was undoubtedly the tandem and the four-in-hand teams and skilfully handled as they were by their youthful owners they made a pretty picture in the rings, particulnrjy thee sent forward by Sir George Clifford. In. the saddle horse section, South Canterbury was well represented and the show would have been distinctly the poorer had owners there not send forward some exhibits. In the class for hack up to 15 stone, Mr F. J. White was handed the red ticket for Victory. Mr. A. S. Elworthy's Wizard was in the same class and it is worthy of note that when last this pair met in a show ring (at Waimate) Wizard was placed first and Victory second, while at the Timaru

! Show this order was reversed and yesterday Wizard was not placed. ine .fareora stables were not prominent for red tickets in the prize list yesterday though the well tried horses shown by the Elworthy Bros, in no respect fell short of their usual high standard. In the 13st hack class, Mr P. A. Elworthy's Liberty was placed third, -Ur W. Payne showing a very tine (3 year old black which was placed first, while Mrs H. Elworthy's Ironbark canio second. In the list hack class Mr A. S. Elworthy got third place with Bat. Mr C. H. Ensor came first with Spicier, and Mr H. Ensor second with Larry. In the class for ladies' hacks Bat was placed first, and Liberty third. A special prize given for the best ioiimev horse no to 13st was annexed by Mr C. H. Ensor's Spider. Liberty nnd Wizard were both in this class. Mr W. F. Hamilton's team of blacks trns missing this year in the harness 1 horse section, but he showed Paddy in the class for single buggy horses, ami b*at all comers. Haywnrd and Co. showed a stylish-four-in-hand team of <-VstTin*s. which were awarded the first and a special prize. TRIALS OF HUNTERS. The trials over fences with the hunters occupied the greater part of the afternoon and they were exceedingly interesting. There were five classes, ■ and in four of these the entry list was a long one. Some very clever fencing was seen. There was only one accident of any moment this being in the consolation competition when Mr H. N. Field had a nasty fall through his mount, making a blunder at the stiu gate jump in front of the stand. He was temporarily knocked out, and hau to be carried off the field on a stretcher. It was not thought, however, that his injuries were of a very serious nature.

In the light weight hunter class there were 14 competitors and of these Miss M. Grigg's The Raider, was placed first, Mr Hugh Ensor's Larry second and Mrs Saville's Clarence (an old South Canterbury horse) third. This v rdict was not in accordance with popular opinion and it was difficult to tell on what basis the judges arrived at their verdict. The Raider had a tricky way of mincing his steps before every obstacle, and did not jump noaily as freely nor as cleanly as Clarencror Ironbark. both of whom gnve nlmost faultless exhibitions of fencing. Yet Clarence was nlnced third, and Ironbark wns overlooked nlt"<r«th<"-. In the heavyweight hunters there was another big class and here Mrs M. Bethell's Fielding won, Miss Gerard's Togo coming second and Mr A. S. Elworthy's Wizard third. Liberty gave a good display, but Victory, who had rather too much condition on for jumping, had to he asked a second time to negotiate one of the obstacles and he was thus put out of tho running. Feilding is a North Island horse, for which his owner is said to have paid £2OO. There was a competition for ladies in the jumping and the (14) entrants gave a splendid exhibition, showing themselves quite as capable as the men in piloting their horses over the jumps. They showed to even better advantage, for none of them parted with their seat once they were in the saddle. Mrs M. Harper rode Liberty in this event and rode him well. Clarence also gave another very fine performance, hut the judges fancy fell on Mrs Bethell's Feilding and Miss Nicholls' Amateur. They were unable to

separate these two and gave them each a first, while Clarence came ia tor third honours.

There were fifteen starters in the consolation jumping competition, including Victory, Liberty, Mr Temple's Matai, Iron Bark and Clarence. The latter again flew her jumps without making a mistake of any sort and was awarded tke place of honour, Ironhark coming second and Matai third. The last was a high jump and this was won by a horse of circus fame, .Mr O'Neill's Ruby who cleared the bar at sft. sin. An incident in connection with the jumping is worthy of note: the officils proposed not to allow the lady riders to take the big jumps and the ladies hearing of this promptly formed "a union," and decided not to ride at all if they were not to be permitted to negotiate the big obstacles. The result was that a compromise was arrived at by which the riders were given permission to take two of the obstacles taken by the men and two flights of hurdles.