The Star. SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 1876.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 2691, 11 November 1876, Page 2

The Star. SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 1876.

The Agricultural and Pastoral Shows for the present year are now over bo far as Canterbury is concerned, and the people of the Province may fairly be congratulated upon tho several exhibitions, so far as they can be considered a gauge of advancement. The reports of the various meetings are in point of fact a " Pawn loud and clear " to the progress of Canterbury. In no single department has any retrogression in quality been brought under notice, and in most cases the exhibits have increased in number as well as improved in quality. It is true that in some cases the improvement has been less marked than in others, but no sane man would expect that this should be otherwise, and when the comparative importance to the Colony of the animals is considered, we do not think it is a subject for regret that it has been found impossible to bestow tho same .amount of commendation upon the pigs which has fallen to the share of the cows, or that available superla* tion should apparently have scarcely sufficed for the true description of the sheep, while poultry was adequately disposed of without any ransacking of dictionaries or racking of brains for new modes of conveying praise. These facts cannot be considered matter for regret, but rather for rejoicing, in so far as they indicate that the efforts of those who are doing most to increase JNew Zealand's wealth, are concentrated in a comparatively narrow groove. Were those persons to extend the field of their labours indiscriminately, it is highly probable that the rate of improvement in pigs, poultry, and other departments at present rather behindhand, would be more noticeublo ; but this would almost certainly- be attained at the cost of retarding the present rapid progress in those departments upon which the country is chiefly dependent. The rato of advancement might thus be rendered more uniform, but there is reason to fear that this would be attuined at a heavy cost, and might in many instances have the lamentable result ot compelling the recorders in tho interest of truth to abandon those carefully pondered superlatives with which they are at present able greatly to delight many breeders and manufacturers, without overpassing the bounds of truthfulness.