The Wairarapa Daily. TUESDAY, MARCH 20, 1889. The Wellington Agricultural and Pastoral Association.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume X, Issue 3163, 26 March 1889, Page 2

The Wairarapa Daily. TUESDAY, MARCH 20, 1889. The Wellington Agricultural and Pastoral Association.

The now Wellington Association lias been terribly handicapped in selecting a site for the show which is to be held in November next, Within the area of the city or within its suburbs there is not a stretch of level ground suitable for a pastoral and agricultural show. The Hutt racecourse, which has been oh'oscn, is a suburb of a suburb, and owing to the tortuous character of the railway track which connects it with the city it is more remote than its actual distance would suggest, However, the site has been determined, and it will rest with our Wellington friends to offer Buch other inducements as may be necessary to persuade breeders in other parts of the colony to contribute exhibits to their show. Several large Wairarapa stockownors are mainly responsible for the formation of the new Association, In carrying on their business as breeders—a business in which some of them have invested large sums of money—they find it neoesaary for their stock to be brought into competition with the best bred animals from other districts of the colony, It is a part of their business to buy and sell pedigree stock, and if a Wairarapa show cannot be made to answer their requirements, they are of course quite justified in fostering a Wellington Association. Our own opinion is that if tho Wairarapa pulled together it could offer such inducements at its annual show that buyers and sellers from all parts of the colony could be brought here. Unfortunately the Wairarapa does not pull together, and the district is now suffering from the disunion that exists, The larger exhibitors of this district, in fostering a Wellington Association are practically deserting our own show grounds, and the future strength of our local shows is likely to depend very much upon the support of small exhibitors. Of course the permanent success of the Wellington Association is not by any means assured, If Wellington people came out very strongly in supporting the subscription list which will be opened in favor of the new Association the prospects will be fair, but unless the citizens of the Empire City put their hands in their pockets cheerfully and willingly, the battle will be an uphill one, Wellington is commercial, Wellington is nautical, Wellington is even horsey, but as yet it has displayed no great agricultural or pastoral proclivities, Nature intended Wellington to gee up regattas, aud whether in organising tho proposed pastoral show it will bo a fish out of water we know not, There are some good men backing the show, men who are silent workers and who really arrange its destinies, irrespectiveoi certain amiable gentlemen who have undertaken with marlted success the talking part of tho business. Will the thing become from the outset one of the leading institutions of the kind in the colony? Our contemporary the New Zealand Times says 60, but tho Canterbury'flhow is still safe, and if Wellington can struggle the first year into tho position of giving even a third rate show it will be wondorfully successful.