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Wairarapa Standard, Volume 6, Issue 475, 12 September 1876, Page 2

It is to be regretted for the credit of the district in which the Pastoral and Agricultural Association has been established, and for the sake of the industries it was designed to promote, that its annual meeting was no better attended, and that so little interest is taken in the success of the Association even by those to whose guardianship it has been confided. It would appear that public apathy is not confined to political subjects, but is lamentably prevalent with regard to all public questions, whether these have reference to the agricultural, pastoral, educational or social advancement of the district If this were not the case, we should be disposed to conclude that the non-success of the Association in question was either owing to some radical defect in its organisation, or to the absence of any energy in its management; and though both have doubtless had some effect on its fortunes, the causes of its decadence may possibly be found to be in the want of due appreciation on the part of the settlers generally in a new country of the advantages derived by associative efforts to secure any given object, and in the diminished amount now subscribed by its more wealthy members towards its funds. In any case the Association, instead of increasing { with the progress of the district shews a falling off, and the why and the wherefore for this ought to be at once ascertained. No doubt, this is in part due to its objectionable itinerant character ; but may it not be due chiefly to the arrangement come to two years ago, when the annual subscription of the members was doubled, and when the practice was initiated by the more wealthy of their number to limit their own contributions to the funds of the Association to that amount? Undoubtedly a subscription of ten guineas per annum conld be better afforded by some of the office bearers and members than a tenth of that sum conld be by others. If, moreover, the Association is calculated to promote the interests of its members in proportion to the amount of the oapital they have invested in the pursuit it is designed to improve and advance it is only just that the more wealthy members should contribute more largely to its funds than those whose means are more limited. We desire to create a healthy public opinion in this direction as it might be fruitful in beneficial results. In any case it is evdient that in a sparsely populated district like this, where the number of the members of the Association must necessarily be extremely limited, the restriction of the annual subscription of the more wealthy of their number to a guinea each, must have the effeqt of diminishing both the attrac- > tiveness and usefulness of the Associai tion, of largely diminishing the sphere of its operations, and of ultimately starring it for want of fnnds. They manage these matters more liberally in Hawke’s Bay. There the members of the Association vie with each other other in contributing to its funds; there instead of £7O worth of prizes being given, £7OO worth are offered tor competition ; and theft, cbtiseqtienlly, a genama emulation ia created on the

part of the exhibitors, which necessarily increases the number, the variety, and the character of the exhibits, besides making the show much more attractive to the public at large. We were glad to find that the Association intended to encourage ploughing matches in future, and we can see no reason whj other features should not be added to the annual exhibitions with the view of increasing their attractiveness, and of augmenting at the same time the funds of the Association. Still we are persuaded that unless the support accorded to the Association during the first year of its existence is again accorded to it, when the more wealthy members contributed more munificiently to its funds than has lately been their practice, neither the Association nor its shows can obtain that position in the Wairarapa which, fora multiplicity of reasons, it is most desirable they should enjoy.