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Southland Times, Issue 867, 18 December 1867, Page 2

The General Show of the Southland Agricultural and Pastoral Association to take place to-morrow will, we believe prove a success. Trom all we can learn, it promises to surpass any similar exhibition yet beld in tbe Colony. It has been tbe custom witb writers in other provinces to create a belief tbat Southland was retrogressing — that the financial difliculties of tbe past destroyed all spirit of enterprise or public activity, Tbe energetic manner in wbicb the inauguration of tbis institution was taken up, the large amount of support it has received, and the completeness of the arrangements that have been made to render its first Show equal, if not superior, to th e long formed kindred Associations in Otago and Canterbury, justifies tbe conclusion that its maiden efforts will demonstrate that substantial and material progress has been made. That it possesses stock of the highest class (especially long wooled sheep) the records of the prizes taken by Southland breeders at the Shows, recently held at Oamaru and Timaru, is . ample evidence. The extent, however, to which Agricultural and Pastoral pursuits have been carried on during the last few years, has not been realised even among ourselves. The forthcoming exhibition is likely to prove that this Province stands pre-emi-nent as an Agricultural and Pastoral district.

We learn that the entries made are numerous, amounting to nearly two hundred, including stock of almost every imaginable description. "We bave previously so strongly urged the claims of these competitive exhibitions for the support of the public that it is unnecessary to repeat them ; sufficient to say that they are now generally recognised. Thursday is proclaimed a holiday by the Provincial Government and the Banks ; and no doubt there will be a large attendance of townspeople at the Showyards. Ib is to be hoped that all will lend their aid in rendering the Show the success we predict for it. It is to the advancement of agriculture that Southland must look for its future prosperity, and there is nothing so calculated to produce a first class of farming as annual friendly competition and social intercourse. At home, these gatherings are looked upon by the highest statesmen as the most fitting opportunity for explaining their political views, and enunciating new ideas to secure the advancement of the land they live in. It is to be hoped tbat tbe Show and dinner will prove a success exceeding our most sanguine expectations.