UTILITY CONTESTS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 110, 17 August 1910, Page 4

UTILITY CONTESTS.

We have seen the crank who believed tie was effecting some useful purpose by swinging Indian clubs for sixty hours; the individual who played a piano longer than anybody else; the person who earned immortality by struggling in half dead after a road race; and the cyclist who expired at the moment of victory. None of these persons ever did themselves or the world a ha'porth of good. and l they are all perfectly useless in the world of work. You never heard of any of these, men filling a dray _ with mullock in record time, or working reproductively for sixty hours at a stretch, or of claiming you kind attention for the number of bags of potatoes dug, the post host holes sunk, or the firewood chopped. And so when utility contests taJke place the people ought to cherish them and cheer the contestants on. It is gladdening to note that ploughing contests are to :be revived. One of these useful exhibitions of skill will take place at Wai- ■ itara shortly, and it is sincerely hoped that such exhibitions may become very frequent. The man' who performs any I operation in the field with the highest possible skill is the man who must, all things being equal, achieve the best general results. It is as creditable to jbe_a finished ploughman as to be a finished accountant, or a 'smart shopman, or a > clever lawyer. The man who excels in

farm operations to the point of being capable of beating all-comers in public has necessarily had to put in a lot of time and lose a lot of perspiration in private. (His farm has 'benefited, his sons have benefited, and his neighbors have In nefited. Take notice of a new suburb. One man is keen on gardening, •and achieves one with all despatch. It is almost invariable that he will have imitators. Competition and emulation are two of the greatest of all motive powers. And in the matter of farming operations nothing is truer. The average agricultural shows gives an indication of the care some men bestow on such operations, and competition on the land itself and in the show ma.kes for all-round excellence. That utility competitions are extremely attractive to the public is certain, for fortunately at manv gatherings axemen's and sawyers' event's are included. The "ringers" at these contests cannot become expert without using their skill for real work-a-day purposes, and it may be depended upon that the crack chopper who gets bade to the bush spurs his comrades to higher skill just by influence. One does not hear of folk ploughing to perfection for the same reason that a man swirls wood round his head for three days at a time, and no man chops seven or eight tons of wood a day for show purposes. Almost all farming operations might be made subjects for competition. In ploughing competitions it is not only necessary that the man shall be adept, but that the horses shall be fit and well educated. No careless or I cruel horseman could ever win a plough|ing match, any more than a newchum could win the champion chop -with the back of an axe. In some parts of Victoria very varied utility contests are held. These not only include ploughing, axemanship and sawing, but potato-dig-ging, loading drays, boring with brace and bit, sinking post-holes, drain-making with long-handled shovel, two-handed auger boring, mortising for post and rail fences, brush fence and l stone-wall building, sleeper squaring, and two-man loading of bags of wheat or flour. These working carnivals will draw every man in the countryside, and most of the womenfolk, and many of them could be introduced into New Zealand with advantage.