The Daily bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Hawaii]) 1882-1895, 1883-06-11
SUGGESTIONS TO AGRICULTURAL
: y SHOW COMMITTEES.

SUd0ESIiUNO " HuntOUItunAI
SHOW COMMITTEES.
There are some agricultural socie-
ties in the colony which conduct
their annual exhibitions upon the
whole very creditably, but there are
others that cannot be thus compli-
mented. Visitors are, however,
agreed that even among the best
conducted shows there still remand
room for improvement, and if this
be so the condition of the admittedly
less well managed exhibitions would
protitably engage the attention of
those officers upon whom the socie- 1
ties have appointed to the honor and
invested with the responsibility of
carrying out the arrangements
connected with their annual agricul-
tural shows. As the show committees
are now beginning to prepare their
autumn programmes, the time is
opportune for the Offering Of few
suggestions towards making these
annual gatherings more interesting
and instructive to the public, and
anything gained in this direction the
societies will admit must also tend
towards their own advantage. sFirst
of all, committees in making their
appointments should avoid the blum
der Of clashing with the dates chosen
by others. 1t seems to be regarded
us immaterial that the date of one
exhibition should clash with that of
another so long as the exhibitions
are not in the same district. This
is, however, narrow view. Well
conducted shows are not interesting
only to the local inhabitants, as
visitors from distance are anxious
to know what is being done in other
localities. Implement statesmen and
other business men who deal with
farmers also wish to be present, and
it is announcement for them to be
properly represented at two, three,
and as sometimes occurs, four diff
ferent localities on the one day.
Show committees are unanimous in
deploring the difficulty that exists
with respect to obtaining the services
of competent gentlemen from dis
lance to act as judges, SO as to avoid
the objection generally existing
against local men. Why then should
they deliberately aggravate this diff
Guilty by persisting in the date-clash-
ing blunder? A common grievance
on the part of visitors, even ITO the
shows which in other respects are
well conducted. is with respect to
the incomplete labelling Of the eX-
hibits. The grand end sought to be
attained by an agricultural exhibition
is to improve the knowledge Of the
community with respect to farming
and stock raising affairs. To this
end subscribers pay their contribu-
lions, and the Government contrib
butes its annual subsidy. What-it
is often asked-is the reason for the
proverbial dearth of instructive in
formation procurable at agricultural
shows! Our Investigations upon this
point convince us'that it is not the
fault Of the exhibitors. The secre-
tary's entry book contains a most
interesting fund of information tRrp-
ished by the owners of the exhibits
at the time of entering, and this
doubtless could be supplemented to
any required extent for the mere
asking. The public, however, dc
not in any way benefit from the fact
that this information has been sup
led by exhibitors. The entry cards
are posted, but a reference to them
supplies the sparsest possible amount
OF information. 1t ssems to BIO d
! tenet of the majority of show COM
M, ''tees that the jurors shall be
carefully kept In Ignorance of any
particulars concerning the exhibits
in order that their ju,,.., sllouio
not be biassed, but this no. haS
over and over again been demons
trated to be as pointless as it is UNI
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