WINTER SHOW PROPOSAL.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10043, 18 July 1910, Page 4

WINTER SHOW PROPOSAL.

The holding of a Winter Show in Maateitoh 19 a matter which is at present engaging the attention of both the farming community and the business men of this town. Various opinions are being expressed on the question. Some farmers contend that the time ia not ripe for such an exhibition—that the town is not big enough to run such an undertaking successfully. There are others, including keen, far-sighted business men who look upon tne scheme in a more favourable light, and hold (hat with the wide range of products of the soil ard local industries available in an extensive district like Masterton an exhibition could be held which would not orly be a financial succesF, but do credit to the district and be a splendid ad vertisement for the whole of the Wairarapa. In such an undertaking as the one proposed there are always difficulties of no mean order to contend with. Other towns have overcome thesedifficulties and now hold successful winter shows, so why not Masterton? Take Dunedin for instance. When the proposal to hold a winter show in that town was fir->t mooted, enough cold water was thrown on it to dampen the ardour of the most enthusiastic. Loyal spirits, however, stuck to their guns, and the show eventually became an established fact. The new-ly-launched infant had a trying time for about two years, but once the public understood that the exhibition was for the purpose of showing what Otago could produce from the soil and the factory they became interested in it, and supported it tosuch an extent that to-day Dunedin can claim to have the best Winter Show in the Dominion. Palmerston North, Hawera and Hamilton have each struggled successfully against the difficulties besetting the initial work in connection with their winter shows, and now hold exhibitions which are a credit in every way to them, and a big ad vertisement \ for their respective districts. The most serious difficulty as far as Masterton is concerned is that of obtaining a suitable building in which,to hold the show, but even this is capable of solution. The whole question will, we understand, come before the annual meeting of the Masterton A. and P. Association when, no doubt, something cf a definite character will be submitted for discussion.