THE FORTHCOMING PLOUGHING MATCH.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 2, Issue 392, 11 July 1881, Page 3

THE FORTHCOMING PLOUGHING MATCH.

To THK EdITOE.

Sib,—-Would you permit me, through the medium of your valuable paper, to explain more fully my reasons for proposing a ball and supper to be given under the auspices of the Agricultural and Pastoral Association on the night of the ploughing match. I did not propose that the ball and supper should be got up solely for amusement on that night. I had another and more practical motive for bringing the motion before the Committee, namely, to secure a portion of the ticket money to aid the Society in getting up a respectable prise listj and a meeting creditable to this most important district. I have put the matter in this light before a good many people in the country, and they all seem overjoyed at the prospect of being able to assist the Society in tbia way, and have a night’s amusement into the bargain. None of them, however;. see any reason why this night’s amusement should be monopolised by people engaged exclusively in agricultural pursuits. They say—and most of them truly—that, were it not for the plough and the hard-working plough boy, neither merchant, banker, professional men, newspaper proprietor, nor indeed any other dam of men, could, to any extent, find a profitable field for* their operations in Ashburton. In fact it does seem quite , patent ,that the man who could stand forth-and declare that he is not directly interested in the success of the plough would bo a phenomenon worth going sen l * distance to see. The Ashburton A. and P.'Association, with support, will shortly hdsoine one.oftho peßt otita kind in the celqny, and MU, reralt in affgreat deal of practical good to the district. Our sole support in this district lies in its animal andl agricultural products. These prodnctsfireour maipstay. Thefts products and cheapest by having the m best r implements and the best, men to wotk tbftm. ; 1 Therefore ' it must be good andbUneficud to have ploughing matches fofmyfoVe the men find test the relative vahifi'.of implements. In support of this X wiuqubte one sentence from a

speech of the late Mr Mechi, at a ploughing match dinner in the County of Essex, England, just ten years ago, when doublefurrows were first made use of at ploughing matches in that district. He said that “ The question of education was a most important one, because, in these days of intelligence, agriculture must be improved, and it could only bo improved by the application of science, and in order to understand science in its bearing upon agriculture, both employer and employed must be educated in all matters relating to the proper cultivation of the field.” You are aware, Mr Editor, that, as a rule, my head goes wool gathering, but in the present instance I will conclude with wishing every success to the plough.— lam, &c., D. Oliver. Westerfield, July 7th, 1881.