WHAKATANE SHOW

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 1, Issue 22, 9 June 1939, Page 5

WHAKATANE SHOW

What the judges were unanimous "In describing as the best entiie.,, liOth in quality and numbers, which have been shown recently at Wha. liatane are displayed at the W hoka. -bane Winter Show which opened on Wednesday evening. The sccne gn the opening night was a credit to lh e district's agriculture and homd industries. The long lines of benches groaned with serried rows of mangolds, maize, kumikumis, fruit, -sweet?., preserves cakes, scones, bread proudly bore dainty embroideries <~iid itapestries, or displayed the handicraft of school pupils. The judges' task is not an enviable -one, for the total number of entries, -which stood at 839 last year, this jyear has been increased to 1046. This includes 256 enttries in the poultry =show and 105 in the children's competitions. The judging commenced on Wed„ nesday but it was evening ""before some classes w 7 ere completed. In the produce sections the judges paid tribute to the type of the cn--tries, and in some cases it was said "that they would have been hard to riault in a metropolitan exhibition. ,FIELD SECTION Typical of the comment was that «of Mr H. Woodyear-Smith who judg. Ed the field section. He said it was *of an exceptionally high standard. " The mangold entries were partlcu_ larly good, and a pleasing feature Avas that they showed the good work j>ut into*cultivation of the seed bed. It was doubtful, he said, whether heavier roots could be found else--where in the Dominion. Another fine section, was the carrot exhibits, and here again both qual. ity and type were excellent. Considering the unfavourable season the "Swede entries were good. The cattle kumikumi section provided some very fine fleshed though it was rather unfortunate some of the entries were not really representative •of the true kumikumi type. The pumpkins were very good indeed, although it was obvious her? -again that the weather had given a -certain setback. Both pumpkins and would prove reasonably "high in feeding value. Mr Smith found most of the root *crops free from disease, only one -mangold entry being affected with "black heart. Some of the Swede entries were affected with mottled heart disease due to borine deficiency Taking everything into considera"tion the splendid array of root crops m the face of the particularly hard •season did the greatest possible credit to the district. GOOD FRUIT Considering that the Whakatane •-district is not regarded as an id?rd ■ one for the gi'owth of pip fruits the -exhibit was an excellent one said Mr A. M. W. Greig, judge in the fruit section. The exhibits here were all good. The quality of the citrus fruits w T as not so high, he said, and " he thought it would be of great bene fit if the Tauranga people could be -persuaded to enter fruit in this class. Mr C. A. of the Depart, ment of Agriculture, judge in the vegetables and maize classes, said "that the entries were three or four hundred per cent better than last year in quality. He had found it very hard to differentiate between the -entries and. had been forced to take many factors into consideration This wa,y particularly so in the maize - classes where only minor details departed the prize winners. HIGH QUALITY BREAD The very high quality of the loaves was commented on by Mr M. E. Miles who judged the professional bakers' 1 class. There was a. slight greenness in entries. The winner of the championship and the second en. trant were very close in points and really outstripped the rest of the field. He spent three-quarters of a:.\ hour in deciding the better loaf. Texture suffered in some cases, hut this was probably due to weakness -of the flour. Crumb, colour and flaw, -our were all excellent. The judges for the Home Industries also found the greatest difli. equity in deciding between the competing claims of many excellent en„ "tries, and the dainty work in the uoedlework section gave the judges f{Continued at foot of next column)

A CREDIT TO EXHIBITORS JUDGES HIGH PRAISE

trouble to separate winners from runners-up. Mr R. S. who judged the Art and Photography classes was oleased with the quality of all ex. hibits. Some of the photographs, he said, would have done credit to professional?, and the entries in the paint ing section were also pleasing.