STRATFORD SHOW ESSAYS.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXV, Issue 15, 16 January 1913, Page 2

STRATFORD SHOW ESSAYS.

BY THE PRIZEWINNERS. Following are the leading essays in I Class A of the competition, in order of merit as placed by the adjudicator, Mr R. G. Whetter, Inspector of the Taranaki Education Board ; FIRST FRIZ E— 1 ‘PH AR A OH. ’ ’ 3. Mills, Midhirst, Aged 14. About a mile from the northern end of the town, on a small flat twenty acres in area, the Stratford Agricultural and Pastoral Association holds its annual shows. As we wend our way across the grounds, we hear £t din which sounds as if a menagerie had been let loose; and walking quickly towards the tent from whch the noise arises we find we come to the apartment called the “Dog Section.” (And such dogs! Some with long, woolly hair, others with Short, straight hair, some with long tails, and some with no tails at all; but nearly all of them are clean, shiny, and beautiful. The bulldogs look very surly, and give vent to their ire by a short surly harking, and three or four blood hounds are baying ferociously at the crowds of people who are admiring them. We notice that there are many different breeds of dogs—bulldogs, bloodhounds, pugs, terriers, and colliers, nearly all barking, and wagging their tails joyfully. From this section we make our* way towards another large tent, which contains the poultry. Here are lordly roosters strutting about in their pens and crowing as if they owned the whole place. Further on are ducks, geese, and fowls of all descriptions and sizes, while at one end of the pens we see five or six beautiful cats, which arte sleeping on the nice clean straw ,\vhich has ibeen provided for them. A half subdued roar from the northern end of the grounds attracts our attention, and on arriving in that locality we find that- it comes from ‘the cattle, which are confined in strong apartments. Here we see gigantic bulls, some angrily pawing the ground, and emitting low rumbling bellows, while others arc feeding quietly on the green grass which lias been provided for them. From the hulls wo pass on to the cows, and my companion remarks that most of them are soft, silky-looking aristocrats. We then continue on our way to the sheep which are confined in low well-built pens, but, not being very good critics m this line, avc return to the centre of the grounds; and here we find that many travelling vendors of fancy goods have set up their stalls, and a crowd of people are admiring the tasteful way in which the goods are arranged. Wo next visit the iron shed which contains the “Dairy Produce” and “Homo Industries.” Ladies and young girls—expert critics in culinary matters—throng round the exhibits, while we, being mere boys who can only prove a cake from a pudding by eating it, have to be content to look on from a distance. When I turn round 1 see my companion casting longing glances at some beautiful almond toffee which is in a glass jay among the : Horae Industries. Further along we see cakes, and all kinds of fancy cooking arranged in neat rows on one jside of the building.- 'The baconi; and hams next receive our attention, some home-cured and isome, factory- . cured, but all looking tempting enough for any epicure. Arranged in neat, rows, near the end of the building are cheeses, boxes of casein, and butter —the best our factories can produce. On thenymitlietfti' side Of the .building is fancy-work, such as lace, and cushion covers. The home-made butter and bread look very nice, ,as does almost everything else in this aparD j ment; but it is already past twelve , o’clock, so we make for a large tent with “Refreshments” written up in big letters over the door. "" After lunch wo visit the pig runs, which contain Yorkshire,Berkshire, and Tamworth pigs. The pigs, too, seem to have had dinner, for they look very tired and sleepy, and when we poke' them they are not inclined to get up. Later in the afternoon we go in to see one of the side-shows, and on trying to ride one of the buckjumpers, 1 get thrown on my back in the middle of the ring, only to be laughed at by my companion and the rest hi the crowd. After seeing several others thrown off in the same way, we go off to another tent, where some Japanese give an exhibition of “Ju-jitsu” wrestling; the wiry little Japs, offer five pounds to any man who can stand on his feet against them for five minutes: it was a good show, and we notice that the mail who offered to wrestle t]ie Japs, gets thrown easily. After the wrestling, we have a game of bowls with a negro, but on losing four shillings we give the game up and go over to Mr Newton King’s exhibits of seeds and manure.

’About the last tilings we look at is the machinery and wheelwright’s exhibits. Here are implements of all descriptions for agricultural purposes, such as ploughs, drills, disc-harrows, harrows, and mowing machines. We also see the latest inventions for lessening the labour of milking, and notice that the “Reid” milking machine seems to be the general favourite. We leave i the machinery and go to the grandstand, which will seat 1500 people, to view the .jumping, and we see that nearly all the horses, except the thirteenth one, gets ove; the hurdles easily. We did not see the ponies being judged, but we saw the horses and gigs before the judges. The last thing we see is the grand parade. Every animal that wins a prize is paraded twice round the enclosure in front of the grandstand

ami is then taken away home by its owner. On the way home we ad; our parents why shows arc held, am we arc told that it is to encourage farmers to breed better .stock.

SECOND PR]ZE—“WATERLOO.”

A. Anderson, East Rose!, Stratford. This popular fixture, which was held just recently, came off, as was anticipated by the committee, a great sue cess. Had it not been for the splendid work of this energetic committee, the Show would certainly not have met with such good results. Why if this Show held ? It is held for the purpose of allowing farmers to compete with their stock, and thus the one who fails is enabled to find out the faults of his stock. These, In can better, and at some future date he will then be among those who have been 'successful.

On the morning of the first day. the roads presented the sight of : busy farmyard. The second dav, how ever, was quite a change, for the vehicles carrying passengers to ane from the ground presented the sight of a street in a large city, and no. merely a road in a fanning centre As you pick your path to the gate among the various vehicles, you hena lend noise, and on entering tin gate yon find it all comes from tin dog section. On entering this teni yon see almost every kind of dog from the small fox-terrier to the large

greyhound, all harking as the visitors are admiring them. Next you make your journey among the large crowd of people, to view tne interesting poultry section. Here are to be seen all classes of poultry, all looking happy and contented, as if they were prize-winners. When you have looked at all the poultry you thread your way to the home industries’ shed. Here are exhibited all kinds of homemade, bread, cakes, honey, lollies, all looking very tempting as you pass by to view the'different classes of needlework alongside. Here are some very line specimens, some done by children and some by women. Still, there is more to see here. There are ex-

Mbits of butter and cheese from factories of the surrounding districts, all of it made by skilled workmanship. Here, also, is exhibited Swiss carving, all of it very skilfully and neatly done. You next pass by the side-shows, all of which are trying to do a roaring trade, and all seeming, by the number of people going in and out, to be reaping a very good harvest. You then go to see the jumping, and most of the horses you see give a very attractive display. You then pass by the grandstand crowded with people, and examine the various exhibits of machinery, milking machines, gigs, and all kind's of farm implements. The next thing to see is the cattle, pigs, and sheep. As you pass by the weight-guessing competition, and come to the "cattle, you see many people guessing the weight of sheep and pigs, each making an attempt to see d he can win. In the cattle classes many fine animals were exhibited, and competition was very keen. Hie Holstein s and Jerseys, which seem to be greatly in public favour, were, perhaps, the best exhibits in the cattle classes. . . The Butter-fat Competition was again very keen, hut attempts to defeat last 'year’s winner were all failures. In this competition all the cows exhibited made good records. Xext you pass by the jrigs, some o. which were very good, but competition was not very close. Xext you come to the sheep. In these classes there were a good number of entries, and many of these were prizewinners. Last of all comes the grand parade, the most interesting of all events that happened on that memorable day. As soon as the parade began, everything was deserted, and the people crowded round to witness this interesting spectacle. As the small dogs appeared, everybody was laughing and admiring the ‘small one which headed the parade. Next came the cattle, which are the wealth of Taranaki, and, indeed, they all looked very pretty decked with their ribbons, and their glossy

coats glittering in the sun. Last came the horses, some of which were the admiration of the Taranaki people. . As this Show was a very good one, its success in later years is almost assured.

THIRI) PRIZE—“NELSON.”

C. McAllister, Stratford.

When a traveller first arrives in Stratford, the feature that first moots his eye is the beautiful Mount Egmont, which, on a fine day, is distinct and majestic. But even the MounVain is forgotten on the 27th and 28th of November, 1912, when Stratford celebrated its third annual A. and BShow. The object of this Show is, like all others, to excite competition among the people of the surrounding country, and thus improve and increase'the products of the land. On Show dav there is a very heavy traffic on Broadway. Motor cars, cabs, drags, and other vehicles move quickly backwards and forwards between the Show grounds and town, in t ie morning going up, in the evening coming down, packed full. Special trains are arranged for to convey visitors from other districts and towns. As we walk towards the grounds, we find qiiite a procession of people moving in the same direction. Inside the gate we first come to the dog section, from which a chorus of barks and bowls are released- with oreat gusto, for the dogs object to be shut up all day. There are main fine dogs exhibited, some of them being terriers, bull dogs, pugs, hounds, spaniels, collies, and setters while last, but not least, a beautiful white Russian Borzoi. When we have come out, we go into the poultry section where we find all kinds of birds—roosters, hens, bantams, ducks, drakes, turkey's, and cats (which are caged). At ‘this end of the ground there are sideshows of every description, circuses, laughing-galleries, skittles and others. Most of those were roaring to do a trade, and were doing a roaring trade. An important improvement rliat has been made by thinker® of the Association is the erection of the nevi grandstand, and the way in v Incl. both stands were packed shows that the second one was not built at a loss, either to the public or the Association. If we do not go to the ring now we shall miss the housejumping altogether, so we will go straight away. In this part or the programme many fine horses are competing against onto another, isome jumping over the hurdles with sealcely a touch while others do not go quite so well. Near the gate, under the pine trees, is an ideal place for lunch, and as the sun has reached its zenith lie will go there for a short time to have dinner. After the meal we go into the 1 home industry ■ building, where

are cakes, scones, lollies, and bread, which, however, to some boys’ disappointment were fenced in aa ith amicnotting. Some butter and cheeses were exhibited by a few factonos, while' on the other side were some laces and cushions. At the cattle section Avero exhibited gome fine cattle. Shorthorns, Ayrshire, and others. There were cows, hulls, and calves. Pigs, fat and la/.y were exhibited at the other end ot the section, Avhile in separate pons Avero sheep of every kind, merinos, lambs, sheep Avith long wool, and some with short wool. The bulls were very large, some being more than a yard across. There Avere also some Jim?; butter-fat champions. Word is passed round font the parade will soon start, so avo avill pistj havo time to look at the sheep, cattle and pigs, whoso Aveight are to be fruessod. The parade m now st art\Vcr and the grandstands are cnee more filled. Fine horses _ are shown in the grand event, winch is the mos' important one the programme. Whave another opportunity to see the dogs and cattle, which are of every age and breed. Soon the crowds begin io disperse.* and the traffic to re-eommonee, and. after a very enjoyable day, we ]om the satisfied eroAvds of people avliol move down the footpath in one long: procession.