NOTES FROM THE NATIONAL.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLV, Issue 25, 21 December 1910, Page 45

NOTES FROM THE NATIONAL.

New Zealand can grow sweet peas of the highest quality provided time and care are bestowed on their culture. Some of the outstanding varieties were Earl Spencer, Nancy Perkins, Miriam Beaver, Senator Spencer, Primrose Spencer, Mrs. Hardcastle Sykes, and Maori Belle. The National should have a much higher standard than a merely provincial or local exhibition, and it is gratifying to know that Mr. Fox and his colleagues set this before them when making their awards. Palmerston is again to have the honour of getting the show held within her gates a second time, and we trust the public will make a bigger rise to the occasion than they did at the first show. Gate money would not be big, and the question will recur whether the population is sufficiently large to warrant the holding of the National at this place. The fear of the National playing “second fiddle’’ to anything else seems to be a kind of night-mare to Mr. Osmond, but the fear is, so far as we can see, groundless. A “National” Society cannot play second to any provincial society, and it cannot make any difference whether the local provincial society runs the show or not. Indeed, it must come to that in the long run. The holding of the next year's show 7 at Wellington found a considerable number of supporters, and it might have been wise to try an exhibition there, but having fought the matter to a vote, and lost, we hope all will work for Palmerston, and endeavour to make next year’s show something extra good. The annual meeting was not well arranged. For one thing, it was held too late. A day would have been necessary to discuss the many matters pertaining to a National Society, 'but beyond electing an executive and fixing the next show and schedule, nothing could be done. We have left undone many things we should have attempted. Nothing whatever was said regarding trials, registration of names of new types and varieties, and no counsel taken regarding streak so prevalent this season. This is much to be regretted. The National Sweet Pea Society is not a money-making institution, but. at the same time, it cannot exist without the needful, and the question prominent on the lips of New Zealanders is, or will be: What are we going to get for our money by joining the National? Of course, those living in the city where the exhibition is held will be well served, but what of those beyond the pale? Mr. Holder, of Porirua, the winner of the championship and also several cups, is to be congratulated on his win. We did not hear a single “growl,” but wc want to say he will need to look to his laurels, for Mr. Goring Johnston, of Palmerston, is elose at his heels, and if all goes well he will give Mr. Holder a real good run for it another season.