The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1881-12-10 00:00:00

THE SMITHFIELD CLUB CATTLE
SHOW.

The Cattle Show at the Agricultural Hall, London,
was opened on Monday, when the exhibition was pro-
nounced one of great merit.
As soon as the judges got to work there was a fair
sprinkling of interested observers in the avenues and
galleries from which a view of the proceedings could be
gained. Amongthe earliest of the arrivals was Mr. F. J.
Savile Foljardbe, M.P., the president for the year, and
in the course of the morning the Duke of Grafton,
Lord Chesham, Lord Norton, I.A2rd Moreton, and his
parliaznentary colleague, Colonel Kingscote, and Mr.
Jacob Wilton paid the show a visit. Several of them
remained to receive the Duke of Edinburgh, who
arrived at a quarter to one, and spent more than
an hour in the hall under the conduct of the president
and several of the office-bearers belonging to the club;
but he left before the various champion prizes had
been awarded. Upon the other hand the visit Of the
Prince and Princess of Wales had been so timed as to
admit of their seeing the animals which had taken the
Highest honours, and they reached the hall just as the
competitors for the Champion Plate of one hundred
guineas were under examination.
The Prince and Princess, the latter of whom was
very plainly dressed in a dark woollen costume, with
a touch of red in the close fitting bonnet, had come
from Sandringham in the morning, and drove straight
from St. Pancras Station,- reaching the Agricultural
Hall a little before half-past three. The Prince and
Princess were received en arrival by Mr. Foljambe,
as president, and Sir Brandreth Gibbs, as honorary
secretary of the Smithfield Club, and by the chair-
man, and several of the directors of the Agricul-
tural Hall Company. The Prince and Princess
inspected all the principal sections of the show,
and before the visit was over his Royal Highness
sent for M. Barral, the most distinguished agri-
culturist in France, who, as he had heard, was in the
hall, and who was presented to the Prince by Mr.
Jacob Wilson. M. Barral was naturally much flattered
by this act of courtesy, and it happened curiously
enough that M. Barral, as secretary of the French
Soci6t6 Nationale d'Agriculture, will in a few days
have to officially inform the Prince that he has been
elected one of the five "foreign members" of that
distinguished society.
The Royal visit extended over an hour, and at its
conclusion there was a visible increase in the attend-
ance, which had been very thin for the first hour or
two following the opening of the doors to the public.

The Daily Telegraph, in referring to the prize-
winners, says :—lt is curious to note that in this
year's Show Royalty, while exhibiting largely, has
been somewhat unfortunate. The Prince of Wales's
two exhibits, Nos. 7 and 8, in Devon steers, gain no
prize; his Royal Highness only gets a third prize with
22 in Class 2 of Devon steers, though in the next
lot he takes first prize with steers of over three
years (27). The Queen exhibits an extremely handsome
Hereford steer in Class 8 (64), but it gains no
award, and her Majesty only gets third prize for
74, in Class 9, of Hereford heifers. A similar prize
only falls to the Queen for young shorthorn steers
(87) in Class 12; while 124, belonging to her Majesty,
in Class 15, for shorthorn cows above four years old,
is passed over altogether. As has already been re-
marked, the splendid black Scotch polled steer (186),
Qlass 26, from Balmoral, received only a third plize ;
187, nearly as good, and coming also from the
Royal yard, being entirely overlooked. On the
whole, the Royal exhibitors stand much worse
on the prise list than many others, Sir John
Swinburne taking four prizes with the four ani-
mals he sent to the show, while Sir W. G. Gordon
Cumming carries off by his Scotch polled cow (190)
the gold medal of the club, the plate of 100 guineas,
the silver cup (value £5O) for the best h aer or cow,
the silver cup (value £4O) for the best Scotch beast,
and £2O for the belt Scotch pollee heifer or cow in
Class 28 ; his Scotch polled steer taking the first prize
in its class (£25), and the silver cup (value £5O) for the
best steer or ox in the show.