Horticultural Society.

Waimate Daily Advertiser, Volume IV, Issue 215, 12 June 1902, Page 3

Horticultural Society.

The annual general meeting was held last evening in the Fire Brigade rooms ; present—Rev. McKenzie Gibson, in the chair, and a fair Apologies were raad from Messrs G. Akhu,rst and J. H,. P ::«, The mmutes. of the previous meetjng "Were and oon* firmed,

The balance-sheet showed that there was a small balance in hand.

The annual report was read as 'ollows:—

youy the, year ending Nfay 31, 1902, has < been very satisfactory. Thirteen cornmUtoe meetings hive ■ been held and these have been well

attended. The annual show took place on January 9, 1902, and proved to be the largest yet held by the Society. Fortunately, the weather was good, allowing exhibitors to br'ng their exhibits to the hall in good order, and 'he fine day and the Bplendid show Induced the public to turn out in great force ; indeed, the crowd at times was so great that the different exhibits cou'd n t be properly seen and examined. Your committee would recommend that in tuture a m irquee bo provided for the poultry and children's ra,U exhibits. Such an arrapgewent'wbulaprovide more i space for "visitors and it wou'd also remove eoms discrdint sounds from the hall. This year there were 140 exhibitors against 100 last year, and 842 exhibits against 568 last year, being an increase of I 274 entries. This Urge increase in ijhe, ' entries shows thit the Society stirring up peop'a to taks more, interest in their l gardens, and that is the main object of such a society as this. Although the cpllec jq> of green-house plants was good., still there is considerable Too.™ for improvement in this section. The out flowers w ere the g'ert feature of this year's Bhow, the blossoms being remarkably good, considering the adverse spring. The fruit aod vegetables in Waimate are always good, and this year they were just as excellent ae ever formed a oapital show, if\ themselves, A great deal, of. interest was taken in ithe^e'cbrated'tables. There were nine. ! tables, and t;he exhibitors had shown great taste and, ski\l in thetf wrk> Then v?ew aoi many decorated hioyo'ea and go.oarta. I* is to ke hoped that next year there will ha more *otrlea in these entries, aa such decorations ae these are very attractive. There were not aa many entries as formerly in the cottage garden class, but those that were entered ahpw-ad that a great deal of time, and trouble had been sp«Jt Qu'lhem by their owners. Tour 'committee would suggest \bflt some alterations Bho'nld he BRade with regard fa %> regulations for ooitag« garden,*, T-nere are great diffioultie* in connection with the judging of these gardens owing to the regulations not being definite enough. There was a very marked increase in the number of exhibits on the home produce stall, and these formed, a very tempting display, porting elearly to the feftt that WSaimateladiea are experts in the art of cooking. There was also good competition in the i poultry and children's pets olass, and in I this oonneotioa your committee would

recommend that in future the entries for poultry be single birds in order to give more facility to ama-.eurs who m»y only have one really good bird. A very interesting exhibit in the show and one that was much admired was the trophy won by this Society at the Christchurch Jubilee show for the best collection of garden produce. The very best thanks of the Society are due to the Misses Erana and Dailey tor the excellent way they managed the refreshment stall. They were kept very supplying good things to the pubic, and it must have been gratifying to them to see how their provisions were relished Through tluir efforts the society was made richer by £U 15s. Your committee would tender it best thanks to Mr Adams for his kindness in lending timbsr to erect the stalls ; Revs . McKenzie Gibson, Mann and Reilly fo> special prizes for children's gardens; MrJfciayes, for special prizes for childre.i ; Mrs Adams and Mrs Rowse, for ep?cin g prizes for maps and writing ; Mr Mc | Gowan, for special prize for best collec tion of home produce ; Mr R. G. Baxter, for most points in poultry and needle and fancy work ; Mr Howard fir most points in fruit; Mr Lundon, for most points in children's pets ; Messrs Nicol and Scott for most points in extra exhibits ; Mr G Knowles, for most points in cut fl >wers ; Mess 8 Nimmo and Blair, for most point:in cla"3 A and class B ; Yates and Co., tor most points in vegetables ; to th local judges and to Messrs li3\vis and Knowles, who agiin gave every satisfaction in their judging of the flowers, fruit, and vegetables, and to Mr Atwill for the loan of his marquee. In order to improve the financial condition of affa'rs, the committee would recommend that the last clause of regulation No. 4 be deleted Owing to the large amount of prize money that had to be paid Lhla year, the commi'tee found tr it- great regret that advantage had to be taken of rule No. 22 and deduct 10 per cent from the priz mon^y It was with great regret that y «ur commiteee received the resignation of your late president. Mr Francis always took a great interest in the S )oiety and it was to a great extent owing to his energy and assistance that the show turned out suoh a succe'B.

One very sad pvenfc during the year was the death of Mr Clear. Mr Clear, from the fir-t, had taken a keen interest in the So ieiy, and his knowledge of matters conneoted with this Soo ety was very he'pful. On the motion of Mr McGowan, seconded by Mr Howard, the report and balance-sheet were adopted. In discussion on the recommendations, Mr John Smith said he thought a further recommendation should have been m.a,de to cut out the prize for brood of chickens,'' as breeders simply made up a brood from a number. A vote of thanks was passed to the auditors (Messrs MaUiiag and Rowse).

Ljl/KQTION OP OFFICERS. The following officers were elected : Patrons : Hon W. J. Steward, M.H.R., and Messrs R. H. Rhodes, N. Francis, J. F. ftonglas, and H. E. Mann. Patronesses: Mesdames Studholme, J. Manchester, and Hayes. President : ReY. McKenzie Gibson. Vice-presidents. Messrs Nicol, McQowan, S. J, Adams, and HargreaveSi Secretary: Mr W. L. Scott ; assistant secretary, Mr M. Smith.

Treasurer: Mr J. H. Dean. Committee : Messrs Geo, Akhurst, Howard, Ravenhall, Lundqn, J, W. Mancheater, E. Reilly, E. J. At will. F. Jones, \V. Taylor, G. Shackleton, W. M. Hynam, 0. A. Wilson, D. A. Morgan, J. Nind, and H. Saunders.

An honorarium of £3 3s was passed to the secretary, whose work for the society was very highly spoken o^ }t was' riacldtui to hold the show on January l*">tb, 1903. Thn recommendations of the cQuqrn.iHoe were left for discission at the committee meeting to be held on the second Wednesday in July.