FARMERS’ CLUBS.

Wairarapa Standard, Volume I, Issue 12, 23 March 1867, Page 2

FARMERS’ CLUBS.

We lately stated that an Agricultural Association had been formed at Rangitikei, and now we notice an advertisement in the “ Wanganui Times,” to the effect that a public meeting will he held at the Rutland Hotel, Wanganui, at 3 o’clock p.m., on the 3rd of April, for the purpose of forming an Agricultural Association in connection with the Wanganui, Turakina, and Rangitikei districts. Can any good and sufficient reasons be advanced why steps should not be at once taken to establish an Agricultural, Horticultural, and Pastoral Association in the Wairarapa ? We are aware that an Association under this name was started in Wellington, but, to our thinking, that was not the place where success was likely to accompany any such undertaking, They hold the absurd opinion there that a carrying trade, and not the interchange of surplus produce, constitutes commerce. They appear to have no idea that Wellington’s commercial greatness must he based on the prosperity of those inland districts to which the harbor of Wellington supplies the only available outlet. The time is gone by for Wellington to become a second Antwerp, and she cannot become a Singapore, until she become a free port, an event not likely to come to pass in this generation. Yet the Wellington Chamber of Commerce has deliberately placed it on record that it is by a mere carrying trade, and not by the development of the resources of the Province, the commercial prosperity of Wellington is to be achieved. Hence the ruinous subsidies voted for steam communication; hence the large amount expended on the Queen’s Wharf; and hence the strong desire to secure a patent slip. The two last may he very proper undertakings; but, on behalf of the Wairarapa and the other country districts, we protest against that portion of the revenue being expended on such objects which ought to he devoted to the opening up and peopling the country. Freight for ships, and not facilities for shipping, is the first great requisite. Without the first, ships which do come into the harbor will have to clear in ballast, for Guam or elsewhere, which has been the case with three-fourths of the vessels which have hitherto arrived from England.

We have said that an Agricultural, Horticultural, and Pastoral Association was not likely to be successful in Wellington, not because Wellington is not interested in the development of the Agricultural and Pastoral resources of the Province, but because she holds such absurd views, as to what would secure her prosperity, as those to which we have been alluding. It may be all very well to send down to Dunedin a shipment of “ Perm's” brandy in exchange for Otago

oats, but who finds the money which is remitted for “ Perin’s” brandy, if the outlying districts of the Province do not ? If we grew our own oats, we could —were it worth consuming—- “ Perin’s” brandy ourselves, or expend the money sent in exchange for those oats in laving down a larger breadth of land for their production. Wellington merchants need to be reminded, and particularly those of them who have seats in the Provincial Council, that a carrying trade is not exclusively confined to shipping, but is also facilitated by the hundred drays and waggons which pass weekly through the Kaiwarra toll gate to Wellington. The greater the produce, the more numerous the population of the Wairarapa, the greater the trade—the more prosperous the merchants ot Wellington. Wellington is therefore, though she knows it not, greatly interested in the prosperity of those interests -which such an Association as the one w r e advocate would be the means of fostering. In any case we do not see why the ill-success which has befallen an Association of the same name in the City of Wellington should deter us from attempting the formation of one here, or why a public meeting for this object may not be convened at Greytown as well as at Wanganui. A Farmer’s Club should be established at Featherston, Greytown, Carterton, and Masterton, which shloud have the superintendence of the Cattle and Horticultural shows, the arrangement of ploughing matches, and the distribution of prizes in their respective districts. The four clubs should constitute themselves into an Association, to be called “The Wairarapa Agricultural, Horticultural, and Pastoral Association,” which should have an office and paid Secretary at Greytown, and hold meetings there as often as may be deemed requisite and convenient. It is not necessary that we should now enter into further details, it will suffice here to say that the objects of the Association should be similar to those of similar Associations elsewhere.

Now the races are over the present seems a very favorable opportunity for holding a meeting relative to this subject, and without saying anthing in an unfriendly spirit of our annual race meeting we may be permitted to ask whether an Agricultural Exhibition, in connection with ploughing and other matches, and including a show of fruits and flowers, under the auspices of an Association of the character here indicated, would have required more public money, have been the means of affording less enjoyment to visitors, or have resulted in less public benefit than the late races ? No hesitation will be shown by any of our readers in giving the right answer to this question, and we so firmly believe that the best and most active members of our flourishing Jockey Club would give the preference to an annual Exhibition of the kind, that we look to them chiefly for the success of the project we are now considering. We shall not now enter into the question as to whether it is desirable for the Government to foster a taste for agricultural pursuits, but we may perhaps be permitted, by those who sneer at any such idea, to say that we fro not see any reasonable objection can he made to a vote of a small sum by the Provincial Council to be given in prizes at the annual Exhibitions of the Wanganui and Wairarapa Associations. The promotion of agriculture is at least as important as proficiency in the use of the rifle, and those who have advocated the granting of prizes by the Government in the one case cannot reasonably object to such prizes being granted in the other.

In conclusion, we would suggest that a meeting should be held at the RisingSun, Greytown, on the same day, at the same hour, and for the same object as the one advertised to be held at the Rutland Hotel, Wanganui; and that the same meeting should take the steps necessary for the establishment of a monthly market. We merely throw out the suggestion here, as we shall leave it to the good sense and public spirit of our fellowsettlers to accept or reject it as they may think proper.