WINTER SHOW

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLIII, Issue 20762, 24 June 1937, Page 5

WINTER SHOW

LARGE CROWDS YESTERDAY INTEREST MAINTAINED As the week progresses, so does the Interest in the South Canterbury Industrial Exhibition and Winter Show increase. As was the case last year, the opening day saw a particularly large crowd, but on Monday, the off-day of the week, the exhibition was not so well patronised. That was the turning point, however, for on Tuesday and again yesterday, the hall was thronged from early morning until closing time, and the total attendances up till last night were practically on a par with those of the first four days of last year. This is conclusive proof that the value of the fixture is fully realised by the public of Timaru and South Canterbury. Exclusive of train excursion passengers and school children, 10,517 have so far passed through the turnstiles at the Show. Yesterday 3068 paid for admission. There is no particular section of the show which has claimed more attention than any other. The public has found something of interest in every stall, and so keen have they been to see all there is to be seen, that time has been no object. Yesterday upwards of 350 children and adults came down from the Fairlie district, the party including pupils from the Cricklewood and Albury Schools. Tire children of the Ktagsdown. Gapes Valley and Salisbury Schools also attended yesterday, as well as pupils from the Timaru West, Timaru Main and Catholic Schools.

Harbour Board Exhibit

The keen interest of the public in the harbour improvement scheme has been reflected in the attention devoted to the Harbour Board stall at the Show. Here the public had presented to them a large scale relief plan of the harbour made in 1906, and brought up to date so as to convey the improvements which the Board has in mind. During the week the chairman of the Board (Mr W. T. Ritchie) and Mr R. S. Goodman, a member of the Board, have attended at the stall and have conveyed much useful information. They have also distributed copies of the engineer's report on the improvement scheme and plans of the harbour, with the scheme clearly set out. On the walls round the stall may be seen many interesting photographs of the harbour in the early days. Two other very interesting exhibits are a photograph of Captain Alexander Mills, a former harbourmaster, who was drowned on that fateful Sunday, May 14, 1882, when the City of Perth and the Benvenue went ashore. Beneath the photograph is a poem written to the memory of Captain Mills by David Carnegie at Arbroath, in September, 1882. The poem is printed on silk, and is one of the treasured possessions of Captain Mills's son, who now resides at Waltohl.