SHEEP DOG TRIALS.

King Country Chronicle, Volume V, Issue 351, 8 April 1911, Page 5

SHEEP DOG TRIALS.

A SUCCESSFUL MEETING. Te Kuiti Sheep Peg Trial Club commenced their first annua! meeting in Mr N. 11. Link's paddock on Thursday. There was a good attendance of settlers an ! a number of visitors principally from -XwaKitio. When this Club was first mooted, it was considered that everything would go off we'll if a good one-day's trial could be worked. Expectations were, however, exceeded, and it was found that the number of entries would necessitate a three-days' trial. Altogether, there were 123 entries, 42 of which were lor the driving and yarding competition. This event occupied the whole of Thursday, and some very good work was done. The following are the results:— Class 1. Driving and yarding. G. M. Waddingham's Ben 1, A. Fletcher's Sweep 2, Sutherland's Jack 3. Class 2.—Heading, bring back and yard:—Fletcher's Sweep 1, Voyce's Rock 2, R. B'ack's Snook 3. Class 3.—Huntaway, Head, bring back and hold in ring:—R. Black's Snip 1, J. Scott's Bob 2, 11. Voyce's Rock 3.

Class 4.- -Huntaway:—R. Black's Snip 1, B. Lett's Guile 2, R. H. Chapman's Glen 3.

Points prize (settlers under 1000 acres) : The details have not been fully worKed out yet, but as far as ascertained Mr A. R. Black, of Await ino, is the winner.

The competition for the best looking gentleman competitor was won by Mr R. H. Chapman. The ladies judging had a very hard task to decide, and after mature consideration, the most youthful competitor was awarded the prize, which was donated by Mr F. H. R. Brice. The officials of the Club deserve congratulating for the excellent manner in which the meeting was conducted. Great praise is due to the Secretary, Mr F. Hammond, for the complete arrangements made.

SPEECH BY HON. T. MACKENZIE

NEW ZEALAND'S PROSPERITY

'■ A dinner was given last night by : Te Kuiti Dog Trials Club in the Town ! Hall, at which the Hon. Tom. Macken- ! zie, Minister of Agriculture and Mr W. T. Jennings, M.P., were present. j Mr M. B. Lusk, President of the l Club, presided, and a large number of settlers from the Awakino and other districts, at<d local residents and settlers, were in attendance. The i President proposed the toast of "The King," which was enthusiastically drunk; Mr K. M. Somerville proposed ("The Visitors," responded to by Mr i Scott, of Awakino, and Mr Dowden, of Taihape; Mr Paynter proposed "The Dog Trials Club," responded to by Mr A. Shannon; and Mr J. Old proposed "The A. and P. Association," re- : sponded to by Mr Gadsby. Mr Gadsby said that with all the young blood behind them Te Kuiti | had nothing to fear. He had every : confidence in the district, and was perfectly satisfied they had the : country and the young men, and l with the right men and the right stock, they had a future before ; them. They should all be members | of the A. and P. Association, and i give it support. The climate was better here than any he had seen in : New Zealand. He would do his part, and hoped others would do theirs. The dog trials were educational to young men. Mr Dines, Secretary of the A. and ; P. Association, said they were getting every support from the small : farmers, who were rolling up and ' joining the association, which wa3 ! going to be of value to them. A i ram fair was also to be held after ' the show. The Minister of Agricul- ; ture would perhaps give them some j hints on conducting their new asso- ! ciation. Their one hope was to ! make their' 3 one of the leading i shows in the country. Mr Berry proposed "The Local ! Bodies," and spoke of the need of good roads to enable them to hold i shows or dog trials. They looked to i the local bodies to make the roads, ' and were prepared to find their share if the Government and local bodies did the rest. Mr Boddie, in responding, said local bodies were indispensable evils they could not get on without. Progress had been slow in the past, but would be much greater in the future. County Councils had greater facilities for raising loan 3 to-day than in the past. The Waitomo County Council was raising some £24000 for road purposes The Government evidently recognised the importance of the. district, and one Government subsidy of £SOOO had ! been given on a loan of £14,000 raised | by the settlers. The money was : going to make a great difference to | the district. There were evidences of ! progress seen in every part. If three i year 3 ago anyone had suggested dog S trials he would have been laughed to scorn. The land was being opened up by men from other districts, and all i part of the Dominion. 'l'hey had a I magnificent climate and a fertile soil, ! and given access to their properties, I nothing could Keep them back. He : noticed a large number of the gentlemen present were from a consider- ! able distance out, and regn tted there were not snore local s<tfle« present. ! The Pivside.it proposed, '■Out Judge," saving that a man must be ; K um\ judge'ami a goed sport to com. all that way and spend his time as Mi McDonald had done. He was the right man in liie right, place. 'Mr McDonald, in responding, sail he had quite ■enjoyed his trip, and hat been surprised in see »o many dogs Some ciassi.., were exceedingly good ;uul a.- doubted if there were as man} in ihiis- cias. :■:■ in other trials in tin Nm-tl: island. S<> doubt the chil would sairpa .J older clubs in futuia \vars. He wished the club ever; prosperity. Mr IPuldie proposed the Hon T Mackem-io, and felt quite justified ii saying that, no matter what politic

they had, they wore -never slack in extending a welcome to any member of the Executive paying a visit to Te Kuiti. The Hon. Thus. Mackenzie, in responding to the toast of his health, epxressed his thanks for t!ie words of welcome, and the expression of opinion that all members of the Exe- j cut i v e we re a 1 w ny s we 1 e o; ri e. Id e. was quite sure when speaking to members of an association with agricultural interests, that a Minister holding an agricultural portfolio would receive consideration at their hands, j He hoped the A. and P. Association would prosper. No doubt that district ought to be brought into a higher state of cultivation than they saw it. They had the men and the land, and the Old Country market for anything they liked to produce. He was glad . of the opportunity of meeting the pioneers who were bringing the backblocks into cultivation, and every encouragement should be given to such I people. A speaker had said settlers I were willing to assist the Govern- ! ment, and their worthy Mayor had j referred to the Acts placed on the j Statute Book for giving fcailities to i County Councils to raise loans. He ! had recently traversed the Taranaki j province, and noted the advance they ; had made in their road works, which i indicated' that the Act was not an un- ! necessary one. If they had an agri- , cultural show there, they ought to pro- | vide as good stock and as good root crops as in Waikato. He, for his j part, would give them as good an ex- ; hibit as they could turn out from the Experimental Farm, which, while attracative, would have an educational effect. Referring to the dog trials held that day and the fact that the dogs looked after the sheep. Mr Mackenzie said sheep were an index j of the prosperity of the country, and never more prominent. There were people who had the idea that we were I living under artificial conditions, but ! there was no justice in that conclu- ! sion. Taking the mutton and lamb I production, he showed that although ! there had been an extended production ; in Australia from one quarter of a million sheep in 1903 to 4 and a quarter millions exported iu 1910, together with £2,000,000 worth from the Argentine, it had been absorbed in the Old Country at satisfactory prices. Amer- ; ica was increasing her population, ; and was largely consuming her own ' food at the present time. The people i on the Continent of Europe were de- ! prived of wholesome meat, but they I were on the verge of a groat develop- | merit in that direction. The ArgenI tine had sent two large shipments of- '. mutton to Austria and provision had i been made for further shipments in 1911. Unfortunately, New Zealand mutton was excluded, but that ahe would shortly have access to the Euro- \ pean markets was inevitable. France, which used to have 31 million sheep, had now 17 million, and Germany from 24 million had dropped to 7 j million, while Russia had gone back 20 millions. The working classes in Germany contended they ought to get , wholesome meat into the country at prices they could meet. THE WOOL MARKET. Wool was never on a sounder foun- ! dation. There had been a decrease in ! the number of sheep existing, from i 524 million in 1895 to 503 million in ' 1909. Coupled with that there had | been an increase in wool used from | 522 millions to 622 million. It was ' a simple problem. Give them pros- ! perity generally, and there must be a I great demand for New Zealand wool. | COTTON. i There was a shortage of cotton, I and it had greatly increased in value, ! so there was not sufficient to supply the demand. The output, on the other i hand, had increased enormously, from ' five thousand million yards in 1908 to ! six thousand million yards in 1910. j If cotton was in short supply ; if the ; wool-using people had increased while j the total output of wool had dimin- ; sihed, it followed that the industry ; was on a solid foundation. At no j period in the world's history had there i been such great prosperity. British i trade in 1910, inclusive of bullion ' r exported, amounted to £1,400.000,000 an increase enormous amount of trade. Britain was also a money-lending | country, and lent last year £300,000,1 000, making a total lent abroad of £3,- | 100,000,000, on which £150,000,000 ', was paid in interest. With such pros- | pects before the Old Country they had j i every confidence for the future in New | i Zealand. That prosperity was based j I on peace, and the enormous output ! j of gold in the world, which in the i last 30 years had yielded more than I in all previous history from Christopher Columbus' time. Given that I peace, and no great crisis,, and they ; might look for a great future for ! their trade in the world. Therein i would lie their success. ! EXPERIMENTAL WORK. Referring to the work of the Department of Agriculture, Mr Mackenzie pointed out that more than half the cattle in the milking herds of the Dominion did not pay for the cost of their food,. The Department had found that in the same herd, 22 animals yielded less than the other eleven did. Other experimental work was being prosecuted in order to eradicate tuberculosis in cows and pigs, i There was an enormous market for bacon and pork at Home if they could only purify their stock, and it was capable of enormous development. At the present time the most exbaus- ' live experiments were being carried i on,and it was found that of pigs fed on 1 sterilised milk and whey, 222, when ' tested, showed, onl" two with any disease, while amongst those, fed otherwise 200 out of 3>7 showed di i sease. He had been told in Taranaki 1 that if they insisted on sterilisaton . there would be as great an outcry as , there was at the last general election ' respecting the dairy regulations, but ■ he " thought the intelligence of the i farmers was too great to be imposed -■ upu:. for political purposes. Those ,' regulations should be taken apart from political considerations altogether, . and those who agitated the public i : mind against them ought to have the a whole of the farmers against them at

once. It was the duty of the department to put the supplies on the market under the best conditions. Here at a distance of 12,000 or 13,000 miles from our market, we were under an enormous handicap, and must do far better than our competitors in France, Denmark, Russia, Canada or the Argentine, who were from a few hours or days or weeks from that market. If they were to bniki up the industry they must eliminate party feeling altogether. If it was necessary to insist on sterilisation, it should be insisted on right through, and the farmers should be behind the department. But it was not necessary, as lie had found only four companies refusing to comply, and he was persuaded that they had every right to think that in due course they would put in sterilising plants. The whole situation was fu'.l of hope. There was no reason to doubt the markets of the world were never in better condition. New Zealand offered a fairer field to industrious people than ever before. Its credit was higher than some of the Australian colonies. It was pleasant to reflect that they were on the high road to good times, and all they required was that they should do their part rightly. Mr W. T. Jennings, M.P., also said a few congratulatory words. Songs and recitations were contributed by Messrs Paynter, N. B. Lusk, Foster, McDonald, and Walker.