FRANKLIN A. AND P. SOCIETY.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 5, Issue 214, 3 October 1916, Page 1

FRANKLIN A. AND P. SOCIETY.

Committee Meeting. A meeting of the General Committee of the Franklin A. and 1\ Society was held in the Pukekohe Borough Council Chambers on Friday evening last, and was attended by Messrs C. Lawrie (president), J. Wylio, F. Ballard, J. W. Sbarpe, J. N. Massey, F. Shipherd, U. Schlaepfer and R. Bilkey, with the secretary, Mr J. M. Baxter. Prior to proceeding with the ordinary business, votes of condolence wero passod with the widow and family of the late Mr W. Keith and with Mr T. Woods and family in the los 3 of his son at the front.

A report of the recent sale of sections on the old showground was submitted by the president, whose action in reducing in some cases the reserve figures thereon wasconfirmed. Mr Lawrie suggested that the secretary and he should bo empowered to endeavour to dispose of the sections on hand, but he advised that it would be preferable to retaiu the sections rather than to accept figuros below their value.—Authority to sell was accorded as suggested by Mr Lawrie.

The Schedule Revising Committees presented their reports and the same were adopted. In tho horse section the class for the champion hunter now carries a £3O prizo for first place, as against £2O previously, while in the section for artillery horses the prize monoy was increased, on the proposal of Mr Massey, from £2 and £ 1 to £4 and £2. On the suggestion of Mr Shipherl it was agreed to stipulate that the weights of the wethers and lambs in the section for freezers should be as near 05lbs and under 42lbs respectively. The control of tlw gate through which the public pass into the showground was the subject of a suggestion made by Mr Wvlie to the effect that better provision should be made whereby it would bo more satisfactory in future.—Mr Shipherd advocated that a way out of the difficulty would bo to install turnstiles such as tho Auckland A. & P. Society did when they had to face the same difficulty. The President recommended that the matter should be referred to the Finance Committee with a view of it being eventually placed before the General Committee. —This was agreed to. New members proposed by the President and elected were Messrs F. H. Hattaway (Green Lane), A. A. Civil (Buckland), and Mr W. Coster (Pukekohe). A letter was lead from the Department of Agriculture recommending that a resolution, as carried at the conference of New Zealand Council of Agriculture held in Wellington recently, should be supported, as follows: "That Agricultural Committees bo appointed by County Councils throughout tho Dominion and that the Department be asked to make use of the services of such committees in experimental and other instructional and development works."—The president explained that the Department were willing, in the event of any farmer donating 20 or 25 acres of land, to plant it with seed, such as lucerne, oats, etc. All that the farmer would be obliged to do would be to take a record of the crop, which would be his property. —Mr Wylie thought the proposal a farce, ao every farmer had to experiment on his own farm. —Mr Ballard advised that a true estimate of the district's potentialities could not be ascertained by sewing tho seed in one portion only of the district, because the quality of tho soil varied. —No action was taken.