An agricultural and pastoral show is symbolic of many things. First and foremost it crystallises before the mind’s eye the great primary industries which are carried on by those who dwell in the wide and open spaces of the country, who till the soil to draw from it the potential wealth which is stored up by Nature, who tend their flocks and herds with a constant care and watchfulness, and who carry out the hundred and one more or less laborious occupations associated with all branches of farm work.
These industries form the basic and bedrock wealth of such a country as New Zealand, and anything which tends to their encouragement, whether it is a small and relatively unimportant country show or a comprehensive exhibition such as that at Tahuna Park, is worthy of the encouragement of every section of the community.
A second purpose that is served lies in the encouragement that is held out to improve the breed of all kinds of stock, for only first-class animals can hope to gain the coveted red, blue, or orange tickets which are the hall-mark of merit in breeding and the proof of care and attention on the part of the owner.
But perhaps the highest function of a metropolitan show is to place in correct juxtaposition the mutual relationships of those two great sections of the community-the urban and the rural population — and to show how each is dependent upon the other and how both are linked together in the great scheme of production and distribution which is the basis of all trade and national well-being.
Influenza infection rate no worse
The following is the text of the bulletin issued by the Health Department yesterday: The position today is still unchanged. No decrease in the number of daily notifications has taken place since the beginning of the week, but, on the other hand, the position is no worse. The Dunedin Hospital statement shows a total number of 51 cases, of which 10 are reported as pneumonic.
There has been one death, from pneumonia and complications. In regard to the reopening of schools, the department hopes to permit schools in the Otago district to reopen on the 23rd inst., unless the present outbreak of influenza shows signs of increasing severity.
From humble beginnings
In graphic terms a well-known Palmerston man describes his first attempt at earning a living in Christchurch on arrival there 30 years ago. ‘‘Soup-kitchens in every quarter, a bitter winter; no work. With my last half-crown I bought 2s worth of wood and a ball of twine, borrowed a tomahawk, and hawked bundles of kindling at three for a penny.’’ Now he and his wife are
about to make a world’s tour.
— ODT, 12.2.1920.
COPIES OF PICTURE AVAILABLE FROM ODT FRONT OFFICE, LOWER STUART ST, OR WWW.OTAGOIMAGES.CO.NZ
