Taihape Daily Times AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 1915. AGRICULTURAL PROGRESS.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume 7, Issue 149, 26 February 1915, Page 4

Taihape Daily Times AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE.

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 1915. AGRICULTURAL PROGRESS.

(With which ia incorporated The I'ai hape Post ';.na Waimarimi News.)

No person to-day that is qualified to speak would, wo think, venture to question the value, of agricultural shows as a means to improvement in the various kinds of farm animals, and in the advaneemnt of all agricultural and pastoral matters in connection with the production of meat and wool for export. We have ample evidence that those exhibitions create interest of widespread intensity, unequalled by any other form of organisation, in what we saw at the annual agricultural and pastoral show in Taihape on Wednesday. Here in a young district, scarcely reached its teens, we see an exhibition of stock -that calls forth nothing but the highest praise from universally respected judges, and which towns in other districts of nearly twice its size have not yet been able to surpass, To a young country that, lives by the export of its primary products, where agricultural and pastoral industries are of overwhelming importance, the educational value, of such exhibitions cannot very well lie overestimated. Go where we will, to whatever, country we will, sonm form of these exhibitions and competitions is in vogue, and in many countries the State subsidises the efforts of the people with considerable mono levy assistance, Our own Government, fully recognising the importance of showing our country’s pro-

tomatioual Exposition, ' and, in addition, a largo amount of space has boon taken in the Palace of Agriculture so that the whole world may learn something about our resources, that interest may be created therein and new markets thrown open to us. Something over fourteen thousand feet in the Palace of Agriculture is used for exhibiting our frozen meat, fresh vegetables, fruit, cheese and butter, all in the cold storage room, while in other parts of the building are exhibits of grain, grasses, flax and other products, some of them in a manufactured state. In connection with our sheep industry there are upwards of one hundred bales of wool of different grades and varieties on exhibition. There is also a large quantity of workodup wool, in the form of dress goods, cloths, tweeds and blankets, nd all this is primarily to let the world see what we have for sale, and to enable us to learn what the world’s needs are so that we may, as near as possible, furnish what, it requires. Wool, or, in other words, our sheep industry, is given notable prominence in the Palace of Agriculture because our (iovernmeni lias some idea of what the possibilities of New Zealand are if tindemand for meat and wool is encouraged and their value kept up; and sheep largely preponderated at our show on Wednesday because members of our Agricultural and Pastoral Association, and sheep-breeders, are convinced of the tremendous possibilities of the territory surrounding Taihape for the expansion of the meat and wool industry. We arc not hazarding an opinion in saying that no district in Now Zealand gives more promise of taking the lead in. moat and woolgrowing in the very near future

than that of which Taihape is, and must for obvious reasons remain, the centre. Wo have instanced what our Government h doing at the Panama Pacific Exposition to impress the fact that local exhibitions such as that held here on Wednesday are not organised as a mere annual holiday as some might possibly think, but they are the result o; the growing necessities of this most important industry; they were not founded here, but in England, where they have gradualy evolved from much less pretentious beginnings, and so long as mankind live upon meat and clothe themselves with wool, n seems that they must continue to grow and improve, adapting their teachings to whatever varying changes may take place, as Ibe> have done in the past. As hotter and more uniform social conditions become widespread among the nations it is reasonable to suppose the demand for meat and wool will increase. A greater number will consume meat and wear woollen clothing, and wbegin to see a time coming when the demand will increase so much faster than the output as to compel the.industries to adopt much more intensive methods of production than are now followed.