A SHOW OF SHOWS

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 77, Issue 263, 6 November 1934, Page 4

A SHOW OF SHOWS

THE WANGANUI “DIAMOND”! OPENING DAY TO-MORROW. TEAM WORK THE BIG FACTOR. To-morrow is the opening day of the Wanganui Diamond Juoilee Show. It will be an event of great significance for Wanganui, not only because it is a show, but because it will represent the worth of cooperative effort. It has been known tor some time that the committee has been influenced by a determination to see the show managed on a basis which demands that every person connected with the management shall work as part of a team. Last year special pains were taken to establish team work, and this year it has been the policy of the executive to foster that spirit. There will be several new features introduced. From a stock point of view there is not the slightest doubt that to-morrow’s effort will be the best staged on this coast for many years. Old residents of Wanganui have often declared that agricultural shows have had a tendency in recent years to lose their value as places for the encouragement of better breeding of live stock. Wanganui has aimed to win back the high regard farmers had for show's in bygone days, and judging by the list of entries, has succeded. The chilled beef championship has had a great deal to «lo with the success, but most of it has been due to energy in making personal contact with farmers themselves. That contact is a factor ripe for encouragement. Farmers who have responded have not only entered into the spirit of competition; they have realised that lhe actual showing of their own stock is above something they once believed was seeking the plaudits of the crowd or running the risk of being made to look invidious, and is really part of the team work the city looks for from its rural supports. The policy of the management of the show in seeking the cooperation of the native race has received commendation far and wide. The Maori is a delightful citizen, but he is shy and unobtrusive in his outlook so far as the pomp and circumstance of the European is concerned. Much of his attitude can be traced to halfformed beliefs as to what is right and what is wrong in European eyes. The Wanganui show executive has set about telling the Maori that his art is one of the finest heritages of man, and that its preservation and encouragement should be one of the paramount desires of New Zealand. Team work has found a place for the Maori in the Wanganui show just as surely as it controlled the paddles of the war canoes which plied the slowly ebbing Wanganui River long, long ago. Industrially, the show’ will be a distinct improvement on its predecessors. Exhibitors have made a strenuous effort this year to keep pace with the enthusiasm set by the show’s leaders. Wanganui firms will not be alone in the big industrial display, the foundation of which was begun last year. In some cases it is to be hoped that the displays will give indication of what used to be and what is. When the public is faced with concrete evidence of the vast improvement man has made in the industrial world the value of an exhibition is very much enhanced. il Sideshow Alley” has heralded its

arrival by a stern bout of fisticuffs. The Sabbath morn may not have been the most appropriate time to decide a dis pute as to a site for a stand, but the fact that there was a fight is indicative of the competition which must be ruling in that world of strange sights and sounds. No show would be complete without “The World’s Most Beautiful Woman, “The Man Who Eats Fire and Swords,” “The Snake Charmers,” the “Card and Dart Players.” Wanganui has drawn a wider patronage than usual from these people of the caravan, who move from show to show and “bare their wonders to the multitude”—for a c onsi derati on!