WELL DONE!

Southland Times, Issue 21091, 24 May 1930, Page 8

WELL DONE!

LAST ROYAL SHOW

GLOWING TRIBUTES TO SOUTHLAND

ROYAL SOCIETY’S REPORT High praise is bestowed on the Southland A. and P. Association, the Southland public and the Southland newspapers by the Royal /Agricultural Society of New Zealand in its annual report. The following extracts from the report will prove of considerable interest: — When the council decided to allot the 1929 Royal Show to Invercargill, opinions were expressed by breeders in various parts of the Dominion, that a Royal Show in Invercargill could not be a success on account of the geographical position of Invercargill preventing many breeders from exhibiting. It is pleasing to record, however, that the 1929 Royal Show was a pronounced success from every point of view, because: (a) The organizing of the officials of the Southland A. and P. Association was excellent. (b) The carrying-out of the Royal Show by the officials was well-nigh perfect, (c) The weather was all that could be desired for a Royal Show, (d) Canterbury and Otago exhibitors freely patronized the Show. Owing to heavy transport charges and the late date of the show very little North Island stock was shown, but it certainly redounded to the credit of those North Island breeders who did exhibit for loyally supporting the show although many hundreds of miles away, (e) The newspapers of Southland created a real Royal Show “atmosphere” with the consequent result that never , was there a bigger crowd on the showground than that on People’s Day.

It is no idle flattery to say that the 1929 Royal Show 'has been the best organized and the best managed since the inauguration of the Royal Show movement in 1924, and the officials of the Southland A. and P.‘ Association are to be warmly complimented upon the success of their labours. That the running of a Royal Show is a much bigger job than the running of the usual annual A. and P. Show can best be gauged from the stock entries; in 1928 the stock entries at the usual Southland A. and P. Show totalled 1,260, whereas 2,120 entries were received for the Royal Show. So pronounced was the success of the 1929 Royal Show, that peripatetic shows held in different parts of the Dominion must be the policy of the council for some years to come. Moreover, the success of the Royal Show in Invercargill has given the movement and the society such a healthy impetus that future Royal Shows are assured of success.

Later in the report there appears the following:— The Royal Show in Invercargill will be handed down in the annals of the society as the most successful Royal Show hitherto held, on account of its splendid organization, and on account of its being a well balanced exhibition of stock, equal in quality to the stock of any previous Royal Show. The show was officially o[>ened by his Excellency, Sir Charles Fergusson, who with her Excellency spent a considerable amount of time inspecting the cream of the Dominion’s stock. It is perhaps worth recording here that at the first A. and P. Show held in Invercargill in 1862, there were 12 horses on exhibition, 54 cattle, 5 sheep and 3 pigs—a total of 74 animals. Never before in the history of the Southland A. and P. Association had there been such an exhibition of stock or such a crowded show ground; breeders of 30 or even 20 years’ standing must have been amazed at the improvement in our stock, and the whole of the onlookers with the excellence of the display. The parade of stock on the second and third days was excellently carried out; a well-known breeder who had seen parades of stock at the English Royal Show, at the Highland Show, and at the Sydney Royal Show expressed the opinion that he had never seen a stock parade to excel that in Invercargill. To augment the gate money, night attractions were provided for visitors and townspeople. One phase of the 1929 Royal Show that deserved special commendation, was the billeting of visitors arranged for by a committee of townspeople. Members of the committee were on the railway platform to meet all trains, and boy scouts and waiting cars quickly took visitors to their chosen lodgings. The expeditious manner with which visitors to the town were handled was favourably commented upon by visitors. It is with a great deal of pleasure that we record that fact that the Southland A. and P. Association made the generous donation of £5OO to the funds of the society out of the recent Royal Show proceeds. Such generosity was hardly looked for, and the large-heartedne.ss of the Southland officials deserves the heartiest thanks of all concerned with the society. The honorary treasurer, Mr W. D. Hunt, in his report also expresses warm thanks' to the Southland Association for its generous donation of £5OO.