The Daily News. WEDNESDAY, APRIL 20. THE WINTER SHOW.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 368, 20 April 1910, Page 4

The Daily News. WEDNESDAY, APRIL 20. THE WINTER SHOW.

So little had 'been heard of late about the winter show at New Plymouth that the impression had got abroad that the Agricultural Society had dropped the idea altogether. It was taken up with much interest, if not enthusiasm, last year, dates 'practically arranged, location fixed, and all the rest of it, and then there was a lull, which was only ■broken at Monday evening's meeting of the Society, when the whole matter was reopened, some opposition shown, and the decision arrived at to proceed with the scheme. We have always supported the holding of the show, because we arc satisfied it will "benefit both .the people of the torn and the farmers of the district, and, if undertaken in the right spirit and all concerned put their shoulder to the wheel, prove a financial success. It is true that the recent gale played havoc with the fruit and crops in some parts of the district, but' that is no reason why the show should be dropped. There are other features which would constitute a show in themselves. There are the exhibits of dairy machinery and utensils, home industries, school children's work, dogs and pets, farm competitions, poultry, etc., and, altogether, a valuable and * interesting display could be made, and one that would be a credit to the district. We do not think the holding of the winter show in Hawera would seriously affect a show here, nor can we subscribe 'to the opinion expressed by one of the leading speakers at the meeting of the Society on Monday evening that "the show business was being overdone in Taranaki . . . and that it would toe in the interests of agricultural shows in Taranaki if some steps were taken to hold alternate winter and spring shows under the auspices of tlie Stratford and Taranaki Societies." In the first place, shows are great 'educators. A farmer with his eyes open cannot attend a show without learning something, especially in these days of laborsaving machinery and appliances and scientific methods of cultivating the land. Shows, even local —horticultural, poultry, or agricultural shows —bring the people together, and the interchange of ideas, etc., must do incalculable good. The idea of holding alternate shows at New Plymouth and Stratford is impracticable. It sounds right in theory, but wou'Jd not, we feel sure, work out satisfactorily. There is room enough for all the shows, We do not feel alarmed 'in the slightest about the competition from the winter show in Hawera. A .great many of those ■who will attend the show there would not 'be able to spare the necessary time, and perhaps money, to travel to New Plymouth, and vice yersia. The respective shows will ,cater for and appeal to the people of their own districts more particularly, and so will the proposed Stratford show. The 'promoters of the New Plymouth show can learn a great deal from the operations of the men behind the Hawera movement. No sooner was the idea mooted—and we •believe it found birth just after the Taranaki Society turned its attention seriously to the holding of a winter exhibition—than it was -.taken up in a whole-hearted manner by both the townspeople and fanners, a company formed, land procured, a contract for

a big building let, and the scheme pushed forward in every way possible. ' Special prizes have been obtained, arrangements made.with dairy machinery importers, etc., to exhibit their machines or goods, schedules prepared and sent out. i\ T o time has been lost, and there can be no doubt but thai; the energy and enterprise of the promoters will toe duly and adequately rewarded, as they deserve to be. These are the lessons the promoters of the local concern must take to heart if success is to be

achieved. Townspeople should join I hands 'with the country representatives and give the scheme their active support. We suggest that the Society i should call on all the most prominent men of the place, with a view to enlisting their assistance, that is, if they fail to voluntarily come forward. Without their hearty co-operation the Society cannot be expected to do justice to the enterprise, which must 'be of [ direct or indirect benefit to every business in the town. We have not referred to the duration of the show or to the necessary '{housing" of the exhibition. These are matters of detail, and no doubt will be satisfactorily arranged by the executive.- There is one thing, however, iwe would suggest to the executive, and that is to malce arrangements without delay for the holding of lectures on farming topics by Government experts or others on the evenings of the show. The lectures would prove an additional attraction and at the same time I considerably help settlers. |

CURRENT TOPICS. "ONE MILK ROUND." "There are twenty-nine cases of tj-phoid fever in one milk round in Melbourne." Thus a cablegram yesterday. The report might have mentioned a district or a street or a locality, but human knowledge grows, and so the expressive term "on one milk round" was used. Every person handling milk, from the dairy farmer to the boy who delivers it to the consumer, has it in his power to slay people wholesale. Thousands of up-to-date municipalities outside New Zealand now know that the potencies for destruction in dirty milk are enormous. Typhoid is a water-borne disease, and whatever disease germ can be carried by water can be splendidly propagated by milk. Outbreaks of scarlet fever are almost invariably traceable to dairies; nearly all the common ailments of babyhood (and fifty per cent, of the deaths of infant's under one year old) are due to dirty cows' milk. Appalling ignorance still exists in relation to the subject of milk, and while the evil may begin at the cow-byre, it is generally most potent after it has left. Wellington has probably the dirtiest milk supply in Australasia, and even in that city there is some small stir to improve conditions. It is hardly necessary in a community of highly intelligent people who are dependent largely on the cow, to preach the value of milk cleanliness, but if there are any Taranaki folk who do not know that the very finest medium for the carrying of disease is milk, we would, ask them to | ponder on tne inner meaning of that .small cablegram: "There are twentynine cases of typhoid in one milk round."

THE CHLOROFORM DEATH. Once upon a time we harassed ourselves by keeping a list of the chloroform deaths in New Zealand during a year. There were sixty-eight. They have since become so common that they excite little interest or comment. A patient desires a tooth removed. He is himself removed oy the undertakers. A child has adenoid tissue requiring treatment, and there is a funeral—and so on ad infinitum. The captain of a steamer runs his 'boat into another boat and damages something. He is suspended. The driver of a railway engine has an accident. Take him off the roll. A couple of surgeons who make the necessary examination of a patient and decide that he or she is in a fit state to be anaesthetised use an anaesthetic accordingly. If the patient revives, very good. If the patient dies., "no blame attachable to anybody." It is always the same. There never yet has been a ease in New Zealand where a surgeon was asked to answer for his mistake or his accident. Why?

CHINESE BANDITS. Writing to a Taranaki Daily News man from a Cantonese military camp, an officer (a native of New Zealand) says: "You've heard about the Chinese bandits, perhaps? They are the descendants generally of the fiercest Tartar tribes fear nothing, and are more cruel than tigers, more relentless than fate. It is curious that the average fatalistic Chinese looks upon these ferocious brigands as a "necessary evil,' and in eases where bandits are seen in the streets of Chinese towns nothing is done to lay them by the heels. As long as a bandit behaves himself he is free to come and go. Singly he seems to be harmless. Sweeping in in a great mass on Tartar ponies, and armed with every kind of weapon —from the ancient 'jingal,' about 7ft long, to- the 'kris,' the bayonet, or the modern magazine rifle—his only desire is to kill. But the wherefore of him is exlpained by the Chinese system of bribery. A viceroy or an older (the chief man of a village) would sell his grandmother for gold, and so he is equally ready to deliver up his vilhsro to the fiends who revel in blood. The discriminating wild beast at the head of the cut-throats is careful to imprison the elder first so tnat he may be out of danger, for there is 'honor among thieves.'" This extract is of particular interest at the moment, as the cables are telling us of the atrocities perpetrated by these, nomad cut-throats in China.