Better Quality Stock

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 212, 26 November 1927, Page 27 (Supplement)

Better Quality Stock

INFLUENCE OF A. £? P. SHOWS

Auckland Association’s Record

OX Friday and Saturday of next week the Auckland Metropoll tan Agricultural and Pastoral Association will hold its summer show. It is anticipated that the fixture will be one of the most successful held to date. Auckland has been holding shows since 1843. Thus, at this juncture, it is interesting to briefly review the history of the movement.

fpHK first show was held in the A Exchange Hotel on December 18, 1843, and the following year the association applied to the Government for a grant of the open space at the junction of Shortland Street. That proposal finally fell through however, and the Government erected market buildings there instead. In the year 1884 there were 562 acres in wheat in the district, 54 acres in oats, 185 acres in barley, 23 acres in maize and 97 in potatoes. The total stock comprised 119 horses, 708 cattle, 1,096 sheep, and 175 goats. A population of 241 was employed in agriculture. From that year on, with very few misses shows were held under varying names until the troublous period of 1886, when the financial affairs of the association made it impossible to carry on. In 1890 a committee under the leadership of the late Mr. W. F. Massey, took control, and the reorganisation which followed made possible a successful two-days’ show in Potter’s Paddock. Since then the association has had comparatively plain sailing. In its early days the Auckland Agri-

cultural and Pastoral Association under various names meant a great deal more to its members and to the community in general than it does to-day. It was the farmers’ association, and, as such, acted in their interests on all important questions. It had wider objects, apart from the mere arranging for the showing of stock. Right back in the ’forties, and for many years after, it took more the form of a farmers’ club. Monthly dinners were held on market days, and there all topics of interest, including the vital questions of the day were brought up for discussion. The movement was responsible for many of the proposals brought forward to boost the district and improve the lot of the early settler. No show in the early days was a success without a farmers’ dinner. To the pioneers it was one of the events of the year. At times regular club rooms were kept, where members were offered all the conveniences of the recognised club, including a reading room. The political element was never far

j from the surface of these early meeti ings, and, especially on questions relatI in & to farming, the association made J itself respected. During Mr. Massey’s regime in the ’nineties there is record of the associa- | lion passing a resolution expressing j disapproval of a proposal to increase j M.P.’s honorariums to £240. The main object of the movement, that of encouraging the breeding of I better stock in the district, was never lost sight of, however, and, while in the early years the entries in many | classes may not have been large and the quality of the stock not the best, the competitive spirit was always there, spurring the exhibitors on to better effort. It proved then, as it does now, a show place for the stud breeders of the district, a place where they could show stockmen of the district what they had to offer and afford them tangible evidence of the advantage of good breeding. So it is to-day. Operating over a wider field and within reach of breeders, many of whom could take their place among the world’s best, the association has great scope for its acti-

■ vities. Nor is it neglecting its oppor- • tunities. Under the leadership of a son of the man who gave it a new I lease of life in the early ’nineties, the association appears to be launched I upon an era of prosperity during which it gives promise of being a vital factor in improving the standard of the disj trict’s stock. With headquarters in the Dominion’s biggest manufacturing , centre, it is inevitable that the associa- ! tion should give more and more space to the industrial section, and that, in ! catering for the patronage of the people i who after all make possible the payment of prize money it should take the ! place of a fair, but the stock and farming side w’ill never be lost sight of. The day should not be far distant when the ! Auckland fixture should be one that : will be looked upon by breeders as one i having a status, in a smaller degree, j similar to that of the big metropolitan' ! shows across the Tasman. It is to be I hoped that next week's fixture will be the most successful yet held in the district. Everything now points that way.