TO HOLD A ROYAL SHOW

Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 255, 22 July 1921, Page 6

TO HOLD A ROYAL SHOW

COUNCIL OF AGRICULTURE DECISION GOVERNMENT SUBSIDY The holding of a Roynl or championship show for the whole of New Zealand was the subject of a committee report to the conference of the Council of Agriculture yesterday morning. The recommendations of tile committee were as follow: — A Royal agricultural show of New Zealand should lie held alternately in the North and South Islands, so that visitors in search of stud stock would be able to see the best of the New Zealand breeds. The first show should bo held in November, 1922, provided that tho following finance could be arranged: (a) A Government subsidy of £ for £ up Io £500; (b) a contribution from affiliated societies at the rate of 2 per cent, of ihe subscriptions of financial members; (c) a donation from tho breed societies of a sum of money to ba distributed in prizes. In the event of the net profit of the Royal show being greater than the average profit over the three preceding years then the association holding the show should refund 50 per cent, of such additional profit towards a fund for the next or subsequent shows. This was calculated on a liasis of £250 from A. and I’. societies and £250 from breed societies. The minimum prize money offered at the Royal show should lie at least £lOOO for championship classes. The association applying should be required to satisfy the committee appointed for the purpose that the showgrounds and buildings were fully adequate for the requirements of a Royal show. A ballot should be token between the Canterbury and Manawatu Associations for the first and second shows. A ballot should be taken in 1£23 between eligible societies in either island for the 1924 and subsequent shows. A sub-committee consisting of three members of Die executive of the Council of Agriculture, and a Government nominee should lie set up: (a) To receive in each year applications from societies desiring to hold a Royal show and to ascertain whether such societies were eligible for the purpose; (b) to arrange the ballots provided for; (c) to draft a suitable schedule and prize-list in connection with the championship classes.

Tho president (Mr. G. L. Marshall) said thnt the cost of bringing judges from other countries had not been considered, but that the cost of advertising in tha JTnited States, in South America, and in Australia, had been.

Mr. J. Begg (Dunedin) said that the committee proposed asking the Government for a sum of £5OO for the show, and the conference had already decided to ask for more money for agricultural instruction. Was the conference going to join with those who kept asking the Government to spend, or was it going io follow Mr. W. D. Hunt’s suggestion that it should lead the demand for economy?

■ The president said that the show was a fine business proposition for the Government, and would repay the Government several times over. . . . The show would have to bo called a championship show till a Royal charter was obtained.

Mr. Begg said he felt strongly that Die conference should not approach the Government for new expenditure just now. It was perfectly true that the Government might obtain revenue from a championship show, but ho believed the farmers could raise the necessary funds themselves, and ho wished to see them adopt an independent attitude. He moved that the question of asking for a Government subsidy should bo referred back to the committee with instructions to see whether it was not possible to conduct the show without a subsidy.

Sir Walter Buchanan said that tho Government had been lax in supporting agricultural and pastoral shows in the past, mainly for the reason that if it made a grant to any particular show there would immediately bo created a precedent upon which various other societies would make a claim. The New Zealand societies had thus been much behind the Australian as regarded Government assistance. Tho show under discussion was quite a different thing from local shows. It was in the interests of the whole Dominion, and while he gave way to no one in helping the Government to economise in every way possible, ho had no hesitation in supporting the committee’s recommendation that a subsidy should be sought. The president observed that if £160(1 could not be obtained the show could not be held, and the committee had not been able to see how the money was to be raised without the £506 subsidy. After some further discussion the amendment went to a vote and was lost. The recommendations of the committee were adopted. |