INVERCARGILL.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXIV, Issue 33, 18 December 1896, Page 28

INVERCARGILL.

(From an occasional correspondent.) ,„ December 11, 18%. Wednesday last was Southland's big holiday, Show Day. The weather was fine and bright, and everything contributed to make this year's show the great success it undoubtedly was. Crowds of people came in by every train, and the town presented a busy appearance. On entering the grounds one's attention is caught by a strange looking individual with long hair, clad in approved Wild West fashion, big hat, pistols in his belt and all the paraphernalia usually given to that character. He is talking with great volubility to an astonished rustic audience concerning- Buffalo Bill and his performances. He is the proprietor of a performing kangaroo and an '• educated '" pig. The stream of his eloquence is interrupted by one^ of the syrens who does duty as doorkeeper calling out to '•Jack" that the pip is sick. Jack comes down from his platform and in a few minutes he is heard inside the tent talking to the admiring audience as glibly as he was a few minutes before talking to those outside. Just then our meditations are interrupted by a chorus, sung most abominably out of time, of ■• Hi, hi, hi. come along this way," heard above the bleating- of sheep, the bellowing of cattle, the neighing of horses, the rattle of machinery, and the scream of traction engines. Well, we went on to hear what all the ■' Hi, hi. Hi-ing " was about. On our way we stopped to look at an individual rapidly disposing of cutlery of all kinds : knives and forks of the name quality could be bought just as cheaply in town : but simply because it was, a show day we let these ••Cheap Jacks" impose on us. Arrived at the tent of the "Hi. hi. hi-crs"' we see one of the number dressed in the orthodox Mephistopheles costume ; 'another is dressed like a cricketer, but wears boxing gloves, so he cannot be called a knight of the willow ; another has a costume belonging to a period, race and clime which we are utterly at a loss to know. Anyhow, it must have been a pretty ancient period. Just as we were moving away we noticed an individual disappearing under the canvas at the back, while the company were engaged in front. A little further on we came to the cattle pens. All classes of cattle are shown, and there are some magnificent animals amongst them. The sheep, too. are a splendid variety and the same can be said of the horses of all classes. The show of implements is very fine, and the perfection to which they are brought excites the wonder of the beholder. We have machines that can plough, harrow. s O w. reap. bind, thresh, and talk : the only thing we cannot do by machinery is to think. 'Tis a pity ; a fortune awaits the inventor of such a machine ; and what a vast amount of bother it would save ! But the most interesting class of all is the class of people. It would be hard to find through the length and breadth of New Zealand a better dressed and better tempered crowd. How delightfully democratic we all become on show day. Here is a gentleman with tall hat and spotless dress talking quite familiarly with a hornyhanded son of toil. Doubtless you would say they are speaking on affairs of high State importance, and that of course levels all social barriers. Not a bit of it ! The gentleman in the tall hat is but trying to sell a reaper and binder, or is arranging a deal in oats. But you will say— surely he will impose on the rustic simplicity of the other. You could not make a greater mistake. Times are^ changed since the days when Virgil sang of the simple lives of the husbandmen, of their sports on their festival days, when under the shade of the spreading trees they poured out their libations to the gods ; or when they yoked their sturdy oxen to the rude plough. The broad-backed hills are planted now, not with vines, but with corn ; the elms and osiers*are of the past. O trmjwrn ! 0 mo/rx ! One cannot go to shows of this kind without being struck by the vast amount of good that must be done by them to all classes of the community. The competition they encourage must result in better breeds of animals, higher perfection in machinery and increased skill in the management of produce. Our views of men

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and things are broadened. The skilful farmer sees here something further to add to his stock of knowledge ; the artisan becomes familiar with the best specimens of his work ; the philosopher feels his pulse throb in sympathy with his fellow-beings, and takes from their store of practical good sense to add to the lore of his books ; the patriot learns to study the hopes and aspirations of his fellow-men, learns the best means of aiding their endeavours and promoting their happiness, and above all, loves with an intenser spirit the country, " God's own country," which can produce such abundance, which throbs responsively to the pulse-beat of so many aspirations and is for him a home, an ideal to be worked for and cherished above the rest of the world.