FARMING NOTES

Wairarapa Age, 17 November 1919, Page 7

FARMING NOTES

The estimated profit on the ordinary working of the recent Wairarapa show at Carterton waa £352 16a 3d.

The General Committee #of the Wairarapa and East Coast P. and A. Society had their photographs taken on Saturday.

Mr J. W. Fisher, of Cartarton, succeeded in winning three cups at the recent show in cattle and tlitep classes. •

The preliminary notice of the Masterton supplementary cattle fair is advertised this morning by the Associated Auctioneers. The entries start off«with 500 head of w ( ell-bred cattle.

Comment was made of tbe lact at the meeting of the Wairai"'».>a pnd East Coast P. and A. Society on Saturday that new local exhibitors had succeeded in appropriating prizes against all-comerii.

Forty-six* new members were elected at> tne meeting of the General Committee of the Wairarapa and East Coast P. and A. Society on Saturday. The membership of the Society now stands at 905.

The total arce, put dowp in wheat for threshing in the Wairarapa for the 1918-19 aeason was as follow^: — Masterton County, 261 acres; Wairarapa South, 405 acres; Featherston, 158 acres.

A table published in the Government Gazette shows that for the season 1918-19, twenty acres of barley were grown in the Wairarapa South County and fifty-two in the Featherston County.

The Wairarapa and East Coast P. and A. Society made a profit of £CO 12s on the weight-judging competition held at the recent show. Th;» is tbfe largest amount yet realised, except on an occasion when the amount was for patriotic purposes.

Messrs Dalgety and Co., Ltd., N.Z. Loan and Mercantile Agenoy Co., Ltd., and Wright, Stephenson, and Co., Ltd., advertise deails of their annual cattle fair for November 20th, Nearly 2000 head of cattle are already included in the list.

The luncheon steward (Mr J. Harp) at the recent Carterton show came in for very favourable commeh* at the meeting of the General Committee on Saturday at the satisfactory manner in which this important department of the show wis conducted. He was accorded a my hearty 7ote of thanks.

With tho copious rain of yesterday, it is expected that cattle will show an increase in price at the fair to be held at Masterton by Messrs Wright, Stephenson and Co. to-morrow. The entry is a large one and outsido buy ers will be operating.

The area put. down in oats in the Wairarapa district for the season 1918-19 for chaff and hay was'as follows:—Masterton County, 2117 ■'teres; Wairarapa South, 1994 acres; Featherston, 190& auras. The area of oats for threshing in these three Counties was about 1850 acres.

Wheat-growing is not popular in tne North Island. For the 1918-19 season the area under wheat for threshing in the North Island land districts was as follows:—Nbrth Auckland, 286 acres; Auckland, 214; Hawke's Bay, 583; Taranaki, 474; Wellington, 3248.

The President of tho Wairaraoa and East Coast P. and A. Society recently purchased »a section adjacent to the showgrounds, in Rhodes street, which he has presented to the Society. At a meeting of «he <&neral Committee on Saturday Mr Hodder was accorded a hearty vote of thanks, which was carried by acclamation. • •

The Department of Agriculture, Industries, and Commerce advises that an error occurred in the figures showing the number of. owners for the Wellnigton west coast district in the annual sheep returns for 1918, and that the total number of owners ;n the Dominion for that year should have been 24,168, not 24,863 as shown. The former figures, when compared with the total for 1919, thus Bhow a decrease of 103 for this year, instead of 778, as, appears in the return.

Tho secretary of the Wairarapa and East Coast P. and A. Society cri Saturday suitably acknowledged tbe .-aluable assistance he had received from the stewards three weeks :o the show. The increased entries 'iad involved the provision of extra \ccommodation at the l*n<t- mntr.em, md the various stewards had ungiven days of th<'ir ttfe, thus helping the Society out of a Treat, difficulty. Thje President (Mr J Hodder) also eulogised the work lone by the stewards. He was proinred to bet anything that the Society possessed , ths, best welling stewards in New Zealand.

Referring to cheese, Messrs iWedlol state: "Early in 1919, the Minis-: ry of Food entered into negotiations -,o purchase cheese fiom Canada, and -jould have secured tho whole of ho exportable surplus for tho present season at a reasonable price, but for Bomo reason as yet unexplained, "he transaction was not completed. Tho price paid by tho Government p or New Zealand and Australian lut at Is Id per lb , says, 120s per cwt t, whereas Canadian n sold freely during t prices ranging from i per cwt c.i.f. Brit- ; bo wondered at that Zealand, Australia, •a fail to understand uld be allowed a free beir cheese is bought y the Government on ale of raluesf "

Only ten acres of maize was grown in the Wairarapa last season.

The number of dairy cows in the Wairarapa on January 31st last was as follows: —Castlepoint County, 318; Eketahuna, 6585; Mauricevilie, 1189; Masterton, 3298; Wairarapa South, 7900; Featherston, 7481.

The secretary of the Wairarapa and East Coast P. and A. Society "(Mr L. Smart) was highly complimented at the meeting of the General Committee on Saturday upon the businesslike manner in w%ich the affairs of the Society were conducted. The President (Mr J. Hodder) eaid that it redounded to the secretary's credit in presenting such i" 1 an explicit and full statement of the financial position so soon after the show. He moved that* a vote of thanks be jkoorded the secretary. Sir Walter Buchanan, who seconded the motion, heartily endorsed the remarks of the President. It was the splendid 'business methods adopted that engendered the confidence of settlers, and this contributed largely to the Society's success. 'The manner in which the Society conducted its ' annual show was worthy of emulation Ly similar institutions, and to Mr Smart's courtesy and "tact could be assigned the good name possessed by the Society. The motion was farcied by acclamation.

The system obtaining of selecting judges from prepared lists came in for adverse criticism at a meeting of the General Committee of the*Wairarapa and East Coast P. and A. Society on Saturday. Sir Walter Buchanan said the system had been tried and found wanting. The names of men were placed on the list whoso only qualification to judge was their popularity or the exercise of some influence. Exhibitors usually went to considerable trouble to prepare their exhibits, and it was most annoying when a> person with only a rudimentary knowledge of the clas» went through and awarded • the prizes. Some remedy should be evolved, and he suggested a conference of representatives of A. and P. Societies to thrash the matter out. Unless the confidence reposed in judges in former years was restored the ehows would recede in popularity. Mf G. E. Allen held that young men should be encouraged to act as judges. So far as Romney sheep were concerned hardly a fresh judge had been added to the list for years. There were over 500 flocks in the Dominion, but only fifteen officially recognised judges.

At the recent Carterton *hiw a good deal of dissatisfaction created owing to the manner in v, hich the judges in the Romney t.Lefep classes were selected. The rMitttr was referred to by Mr Reynolds at a meeting of the General Cornm'tt *3 on Saturday. He held that the appointment of local men to judge important classes was bound to cause friction. Mr Thurston had been selected to take the place of a judge unable to attend, and it> was poor courtesy to him that a looal breeder was deputed to judge the most important class. Mr W. Howard Booth explained the •position that had arisen, and under the circumstances he thought the right thing had been d<?ne. Mr G. E. Allen said some members imagined that lie had been responsible for appointing Mr Thurston. He had received a wiro .at Hastings from the secretary statins: that a iuderc was wanted. Ho made enquiries from men qualified, to speak, with authority, who recommended Mr Thurston. He then wired that gentleman's. name to the secretary. He claimed to be a sport. His sheep were exhibited for public inspection, and the awards never him. They had done a wrong thing in turning Mr Thurston down. The matter ought to be allowed to dio out, but in future care should be taken that appointments were made by the officers of the ciety. Mr Reynolds said he was satisfied with the explanation. If Mr Ray Matthews bad been appointed judge, then Mr A. Matthews should have kept out of the ring. The matter was further informally discussed, the concensus of opinion being that greater care should be exercised in the future.