WAIKATO WINTER SHOW.

Waikato Times, Issue 12868, 15 May 1914, Page 4

WAIKATO WINTER SHOW.

- - - ♦ - WHAT IT REPRESENTS. It i-- :i I'd! ("Liolio conclusion that. given favorable weather conditions, the suifuss achieved by tlti" last Waikato Winter Show will Im> beaten liy that attending the coming exhibition. The Show lias grown steadily, until now ii adequately represents the progress which has been made in the Waikato as ;i farming and industrial community. That it lias reached such n position means, necessarily, that those responsible lor its organisation have hronght the best of their brains and energv to the task. To represent, adequately, the progress of the Waikato is no mean thing. It is a record of which the Association -might well feel proud. That achievement now is to be crowned with a record slioaw—one that exceeds all others not only in the quantity and quality of its exhibits, but in the catholicity of its appeal and the excellence of its arrangements. No one day's visit will suffice to exhaust its attractions, oven to the general public-/ But the Show is not merely an amusement exhibition—a kind of huge fair. It has incalculable value to the agricultural ami other industries which are represented. The inculcation of new ideas, the comparison between exhibits, the meeting with others engaged in the same branch of a particular industry—all these tend to education of a practical kind. The effect is stimulating and encouraging. Camaraderie is established. The feeling of isolation is aholt-hed. The agricultural exhibitor knows himsejf to be/a member -of a great industry—indeed, the greatest industry. All this culminates in a higher morale, a quickened interest. and greater endeavor. The stodginess and conservatism that have made the farmer a byword in older countries have no chance to get a footing in New Zealand so long as there are such Associations as that responsible for the Waikato Winter Show. The old-fashioned is 'of little use in these modern days, when the value to the world Ai agriculture in all its many branches is becoming more and nftiro recognised. That is a truth well known in the Waikato, and in consequence its record Winter Show will be brilliant in its success.