TARANAKI AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY.
ANNUAL MEETING. The annual meeting of the Tarannki Metropolitan Agricultural Society was held in the Soldiers' Club, on Saturday afternoon. Mr. J. S. Connett presiding, and there being a moderate attendance f>f those interested in the society PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS. Tn addressing the gathering, the president said that with the probability of a still further shortage of shipping the cold storage capacity of the country should be increased to the utmost. More capital was needed for this purpose, and every farmer should take up shares ;n such works. Unless fat stock was. colJ stored, the present high prices could not long continue. The labor shortage was everywhere increasing, and arrangements had been made to extend the midsummer school holidays to enable the boys to help in harvesting. Those requiring help of this sort should make application to the secretary of the society, who woukl forward it on to the proper authoriti<\i The past year had been a most import • ant one. for buildings and pens had been erected on grounds of their own, and 1 lie ormning exhibition was most successful. The society was very much indebted to Mr. Geo. Browne, who drew up the first rough plan of the scheme for the laying out of the grounds, and altered it again and again to suit the requirements of the committee. The grandstand, when completed, would be a third larger than it was at .present, and ultimately the cattle, sheep and piar stalls would be roofed in as it Palmerston. The sum' of £4576 lis Id had been expended on urgent work, and of this amount £921 1 Gs 4d was still outstanding. Material to the value of '£l6G 15s fid had been removed from the racecourse. Further expenditure was necessary to protect the river banking near the stock pens, from further eronon. Much of the improvement was due to the work of Mr. C. Dobsoii. The value of the property at Waiwakaiho was over £SOOO. There were still a great many farmers who were not members of the society. More members were urgently needed. The autumn show cost £6Bi (is to run, and the receipts, leaving out donations, were £4fio, making a loss of £222. The winter show cost £6OB. and the receipts, less donations, were £523, a loss of £BS. The general expenditure and interest on debentures accounted for the funds from donations. The contribution of a lump sum through dairy companies, as had been done by the Bell Block and Frankley road companies, should be a fair way of raising revenue. The balance-sheet showed that the liabilities comprised £2878 10s 8d; for debentures and interest owing on grandstand £900; . accumulated fund £3421 10s 7d; and sundries £2B lis 9d. The assets .were: Land £2388; improvements to the new grounds £IOS7 9s lOd; buildings £3313 14s lOd; material transferred from the racecourse £166 15s Od; fittings, etc.. less 10 per cent depreciation £lls 17s M; show plant £l7 5s 8d; stock on hand £S 9s Id: balance at bank and cash in hand £l3l 6s 4d; total, £7228 19s The total depreciation written off was £l2 17s 6d. ANNUAL REPORT. In moving the adoption of the report and balance-sheet (already published), the chairman said that last year's membership fees showed a drop of £l2O. Many members had gone -to the front, and others had left the district. New members had been enrolled, but the deficiency had not been made up. The society was still a long way off the £IOOO membership aimed at. The number of exhibits had been much larger than before. The shortage of green feed had been made up by the generosity of Mr. H. Sampson, who had allowed the society to cut as much as they required from his property. The difference in catering was accounted for by the much larger attendance. The receipts from the winter show last year amounted to £IBO, as against £232 for the previous year. This had been largely brought about by the stopping of the extra train service. Donations for the winter Show had dropped from £lO4 to £95 odd last year. More prize money was provided, but this had not made the show more ■ profitable. There was a feeling among debenture holders that no interest would be paid, but he could assure them that interest at the rate of fi per cent.' would be paid, but if anyone cared to make a donation of the interest, it would not be refuse?. The autumn show was on the full tide of prosperity, though the winter show was becoming stagnant, and not enough interest was taken in it by ,the towns. Deople. In other centres the townspeople ran the winter show, and that was the way they should be managed in New Plymouth, as the society needed all its funds to carry out its new programme at the new Waiwakaiho grounds. The society would have no objection to the election of a prominent citizen as chairman of the winter show committee, to work independently or with the society in any way to further that section of the annual work. The interest of the townspeople was essential for the sue cess of the winter show, and he hoped they would take an active interest in the work. Reference was made to the valuable services rendered by the late Mr. H. Stocker as treasurer. In seconding the motion, Mr. W. Stanley said that the committee deserved every credit for the way the work of the society had been furthered, and systematically carried out. Mr G. V. Tate agreed that a great improvement was needed in the winter show. He was of the-opinion that the show should be for three, instead of four, days, but if the show was to remain a four-days function, he would propose that it should commence on a Tuesday. He suggested that acknowledgment should be made of special merit by the giving of special certificates, as was done at other shows., and thus stimulate further interest and competition. The report and balance-sheet were then adopted. Mr H. C. Sampson expressed the opinion that a special effort should be mads to complete the roofing in of the stock yards and pens, to prevent the wood work from rotting away. He would give the proceeds of the sale of a 15-month heifer towards the wrok, but did not make any condition if the committee thought the money would be better expended otherwise. The chairman thanked Mr. Sampson for his donation, and said the excelled suggestion would be carried out if funds permitted. A special effort was needed to raise funds to strengthen the financial position of the society, and that effort could very well take the form of a gift stock sale, towards which, as an opening donation, he had pleasure in donating £2O. Promises of stock were given as follows: Messrs H. C, Sampson, G. Colson, C. Hoskin and N. W. Hill, heifers; J. ,
R. Rowlands and H. Solwar, Jersey heifers; G. V. Tate, Shorthorn heifer; W. Hall, yearling pedigree Ayrshire bull; C. Dobson, proceeds of the sale of a bull; A. T. Moore, pen of white rock poultry; and A. Lister, pen of white and brown leghorns. The chairman said that donors need not confine themselves to gifts of stock; ! anything of saleable value would he welcomed. The effort, if possible, should be made before Christmas. He hoped that the generosity of the donors would be well backed up. ELECTION OF OFFICERS. The election of the officers resulted as follows: President, Mr. J. S. Connett; vice president, W. D. Grant; committee, H. C. Sampson, G. W. Browne. H. Benton, G. Colson, C. Dobson, C. Fairbrother. N. W. Hill. C. Hoskin, A. Lister, J MeLeod, A. T. Moore, L. A. Nolan, C. W. Reube, J. R. Rowlands. |T. Smellie, and W. Scott; auditor, Mr. J. S. S. Medley, hon veterinary surgeon Mr. 'E. Mason. Mr. H. C. Sampson eulogised the long and willing services of Mr. F. Watson, and moved a vote of thanks, and that Mr. Watson be made a life member. The motion was carried by acclamation. Votes of thanks wore also accorded to the ladies who had taken an active interest in the society, also to the retiring committeemen and the press.
Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/TDN19171022.2.40
Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka
Taranaki Daily News, 22 October 1917, Page 6
Word count
Tapeke kupu
1,379TARANAKI AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. Taranaki Daily News, 22 October 1917, Page 6
Using this item
Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi
Stuff Ltd is the copyright owner for the Taranaki Daily News. You can reproduce in-copyright material from this newspaper for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International licence (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0). This newspaper is not available for commercial use without the consent of Stuff Ltd. For advice on reproduction of out-of-copyright material from this newspaper, please refer to the Copyright guide.