100 years ago - Success for southern A. and P. show

A group of stalwarts at the Clutha and Matau A. and P. Society's show in Balclutha. From left: Messrs J. Begg, Gilroy (president), W. Dallas and Thos McDonald (secretary). - Otago Witness, 13.12.1916.

The jubilee show of the Clutha and Matau A. and P. Society was opened yesterday in good weather. The occasion is being celebrated by making the fixture extend over two days.

The attendance yesterday was wonderfully good for a first day, which is generally poor at any show. Today is regarded as "People's" Day, as, in addition to the shops being closed, the judging of the horse classes is to take place, together with the more important competitions. The attendance should be large.

In honour of the jubilee the society has launched out in a new show ground, with complete and splendidly-erected appointments.

An area of 11 acres was secured on the river alongside the old ground, and here a splendid grand stand, capable of seating 500 persons, has been provided. The walls are of ferro-concrete, with side-lights nicely let in, and the seats are roomy and comfortable, everything being according to the best modern practice.

Beneath is a fine refreshment room and kitchen, a room for the displaying of the dairy produce section, secretary's office, stewards room, press room, and ladies cloak room, all with concrete floors.

In front of the stand is a picket fence enclosure. The ring is of large size, and is provided all the way round with a strong rail fence. The whole area was ploughed and grassed in the spring, and notwithstanding the short period of time that has elapsed, a good sole already obtains.

Strong cattle pens have been erected, there is a covered shelter for horses and cattle, if necessary, and a plentiful supply of hurdles have been provided for sheep pens. Altogether the society is now in an enviable position among associations outside the cities, and the result should be felt in coming years.

While on his South Polar trip Sir Ernest Shackleton went for 10 months and a-half without changing his clothes, and never had a bath. He recounted the fact during his lecture in Wellington on Monday evening, and remarked that when he had made a similar intimation before foreign audiences in South America, they had received the statement with calm indifference. After one meeting he spoke to the chairman and that gentleman replied: "It's nothing to tell them you went 10 months and a-half without a bath, but if you had told them you had a bath every day for 10 months and a-half they wouldn't have believed you."

Dr D. Jenness, M. A. (Lower Hutt, Wellington), has got back to Ottawa safely with the rest of the southern party of the Stefansson Exhibition (writes our London correspondent).

The expedition has been very successful, and its discoveries are understood to include certain geological finds that are likely to prove of the greatest economic value later on. Dr Jenness spent a long summer (April to November, 1915) wandering about with a party of Eskimo on Southern Victoria Land.

He lived as they did, simply on fish and caribou they were able to catch; he was, in fact, "one of the family". Dr Jenness has some very interesting anthropological material as regards their life, and his observations do not bear out the generalised account of the seasonal organisation which is current among anthropologists.

The southern party wintered in North Alaska in 1913-14, and in the summer of 1914 got into Coronation Gulf, where they have been for two years, being so much cut off from civilisation that from August, 1914, they heard only once (in November, 1915) from the outside world and, consequently, were not up to date concerning late war news!

- ODT, 8.12.1916.