THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 1912. SHOWS AND AGRICULTURE.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10563, 20 February 1912, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 1912. SHOWS AND AGRICULTURE.

In the course of an admirable speech at ■tho Masterton show twelve months ago, His Excellency Lord Islington remarked that this Dominion was essentially a pastoral and agricultural country, and it was likely to remain so for many years to come: Nobody who is a student of nature and events can arrive at any other conclusion. All the talk of encouraging industry and establishing factories for the employment of labour is so much political fudge. While we have a country capable of carrying from five to ten millions of people, and of producing: ten times more in primary products than it is at present" producing, it is the sheerest nonsense to devote ourselves to the discussion of the minor ; problems of industry. The first consideration of every person who has at heart the welfare of tho Dominiou , must be the encouragement of settlement on those lines which will make for the permanent development of our internal resources. Before we can hope to attain successful settlement, we must apply ourselves to the education of our young people and our

present-day farmers in matters of sciejitiiic agriculture. It lias been well saklthathe is a benefactor who liiakcs two blades of grass to grow where one formerly grew. By education, experiment and observation it is quite-possible to double and_treble our exports, and to bring enormous wealth into the Dominion. The country has not yet been made to produce one tithe of what it is capable of doing under certain conditions. -It is true that the farmer of to-day is beginning to realise tho importance of producing a superior'article. He recognises that unless he does so he cannot hope to compete succesyfulJy in the markets of the world. And although we have not in this country jthe advantages of agricultural colleges and experimental stations such as are to be found elsewhere, we have opportunities of gaining knowledge by comparison which will enable the farmer to arrive at an approximate idea of the disabilities under which he is working. It is here that the agricultural and pastoral 1 show is of immense value. The breeder of sheep and. cattle is enabled i to see for himself where he is at | 1 fault, and to learn from others how I to improve his flocks and herds. The j grower of wheat and other produce may profit immeasurably 'by seeing what his neighbours have done in the way of agriculture. And in this connection it is very much to be rei gretted that the leading manufacturj ers of agricultural implements do not present their latest achievements on the showground, where they could be seen and compared. A show such / as that which opens in Master ton today is not. altogether a social re-union of farmers, as some , may suppose. It is, or should be, a place where the tillers of the soil, the backbone of the nation, increase their knowledge of rural subjects, learn something which is of value to themselves and the country, and exchange notes to the mutual advantage of all. The time is not far distant when agricultural education will take that important ipla-ce i amongst our scholastic institutions ! that it deserves. It is almost n re-1 proach upon the Legislature of the; Dominion that it has done so > little to qualify our. young people for those rural occupations which are theirs by right of birth and environment.-' Until that time arrives, however, there | is no better form of education offering; than the agricultural .and pastoral show. For this reason, if for no other, we would fain hope that the gathering in Masterton this week will prove more than a spectacular and financial success.