ROYAL SHOW

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLV, Issue 21180, 29 October 1938, Page 5

ROYAL SHOW

Centralisation Not Favoured

Question Discussed By Telegraph—Press Association HAMILTON, October 28. The question of the centralisation of the Royal Show in Wellington was fully discussed at a meeting of the Council of the Royal Agricultural Society of New Zealand at Hamilton last evening, and a motion favouring the centralisation of the show was lost by 15 votes to 6 when put to the meeting of the Society. The president, Mr L. J. Wild, of Feilding, presided, and introduced the question by moving the adoption of the report of the special sub-committee, .that the principle of centralisation of the show be confirmed. Mr Wild added that anything done at the meeting would not be final, but would be a recommendation to the next meeting of the Council in June. The general principle was that the show should be held in Wellington each year, on its own ground, and conducted by the Council of the Royal Show Society. In the committee's recommendation, it was suggested that the Government be approached for a £1 for £1 subsidy on the ground, while it also thought that the Breed Societies should assist with the erection of suitable buildings.

The centennial of New Zealand is approaching and the Government is rightly considering financing suitable memorials,” commented Mr Wild. “What more suitable memorial to the progress of the last 100 years could there be than the establishing of a permanent home for the New Zealand Royal Show? In seconding the resolution, Sir William Perry stated that he had long been associated with the Royal Show Society and over the earlier days he felt that peripatetic shows was the only way to evolve. "I feel that any show held at any distance from the south of the North Island or the north of the South Island is not a representative show. If we had a truly representative show it would attract exhibitors and buyers from Australia and other overseas countries, and I take it that one of the aims of shows is to attract buyers of our stock from overseas.”

Opposition to the proposed centralisation was voiced by several speakers who felt that a Royal Show in Wellington each year would develop into a Wellington provincial fixture. Dominion Jumping Championship In the first heat of the Dominion jumping championship at the Royal Show, in which the slippery nature of the turf mitigated against a number of the entrants, the following five entrants for Saturday’s final—J. Wilson “D’Artagnan”; A Walker’s “Kia Ora”; Dr Eisdell Moore’s “Beaufort”; Miss D. Davidson’s “Big Bertha”; J. McLean’s “Gambler."