GOOD WISHES FOR SHOW

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Volume 81, Issue 19, 15 October 1937, Page 51 (Supplement)

GOOD WISHES FOR SHOW

Farmers' Union President's Message 4 / . . Spring is here. The shoW season-.is upon us once more and the town-dweller and the country-dweller mingle ih throngs to admire the finest speciinens of our stock aiid farm produce. It is well that the town foik'should have the opportunity occasionally to gaze upon the foundations of our national prosperity for, contrary to what pdliticans would have us believe, they are not to be found at the seat of Government, .but are represented by the sleek and comely animals who parade the show-ring in their pride, or in their pens suffer disdainf.ully or with well-bred boredom the discussion — not always fiill of wisdom — of their woolly or hairy points. It is well that the country people mingle with their urban friends in a spirit of carnival and jollity to do hom'age to Ihe providers df our wealth/for without the sheep and the pig and the eow, what- would New.' Zealand be to-day? So town and country iiieet in a day of revelry in honour of our greatest industry ; th'e industry whose prosperity determines the prosperity of every other industry in our land ; indeed without whose existence ofher industries" could not exist, The welfare of our great agricultural , industries is of vital moment to every one of our citizens f6r, no matter how remote from field and farmyard his lot may be cast, his own personal welfare closely depends upon their s. But there is more to an agricultural show than just a holiday. Behind it is a background of earnest sustained endeavour that refuses to be satisfied with anything short of the best — the ideal. The animals in the'ring or the show-pen have not jiist happened. They are the results of centuries of effort and particularly of the skilled and concentrated effort directed towards the production of a perfect animal otl the part of their exhibitors. If high honour is deserved by him who makes two blades of grass grow where one grew before, what honour is too great for New Zealand to bestow upon the men who have made cows produce three pounds of butter where one was being produced previously ? The greatest wealth in Hawke's Bay derives from the sheep. Here again the breeder is playing his notable part. The problems he has to contend with are complex and intricate. The achievements are not so spectacular but they are none the less reai. We seem, howeyer, to have reached a point where the breeder and the farmer are feeling the need of the co-opera-tion of the scientist to enable farther and more rapid progress to be' made.- Progress in Our- -great livestock industries depends on our success in dealing - - with the three major problems — breeding, feeding and disease. No practical stockrnaii dpubts for a moment the close inter-relation between these problems yet we have no adequate co-ordination between those who are dealing with them — in fact we have no adequate research into any of them. A survey of the field, and then a planned and co-ordinated attack upon the most pressing difficulties is one of the most urgent needs of the day. Costly? Pefhaps. But it is more costly to do nothing. Statistics show that we are losing 1,000,000 sheep. a year, only counting losses-after lambs have been tailed. Can we afford that? Losses from- disease in dairy herds cahnot becomputed statistically, but they are probably even more serious. The sheepfarmer's mee.t at the show in a happier frame of mind than has been the case for some years, for wool and meat have maintained satisfactory prices in overseas markets during the past year. For the first time in years they have a little cash to jingle in their pockets. It is not generally realised that the sheepfarmers had the longest and most severe time of low prices of all our primary industries during the depression. Now with a satisfactory year behind them and the immediate prospects for lamb and wool prices quite good, they can set themselves'to enjoy show day, even though some rumblings in • New York and London give some reason for a slight undercurrenf of uneasiness to a longer view. However, Mr. Savage says that the Government will have a money system that would allow the people of New Zealand to enjoy what they are producing, whether it was a time of prosperity or hot. The trouble is that we do not want to enjoy' what we are producing ; we want to enjoy what the other fellow is producing. ' It would be no enjoyrnent to us to have to eat all the butter and lamb that we produce or to wear all the wool. We want to- exchange what we do not require with somebody else for some of the things that he is producing and that we do require. It is in that exchange. that the trouble starts when, prices get awry. •' (Signed) ; _ W. W. MULHOLLAND, Dominion President N.Z. Farmers' Unibn.