THE HOLDING OF THE SHOW JUSTIFIED 



for 20 to be forwarded to the Society in connection 

 with the office. 



The show was quite successful as regarded 

 exhibits, and the attendance was in excess of 

 anticipations, bearing in mind that many agri- 

 culturists, as well as a large section of the general 

 public, were engaged on military service ; that 

 it was held at a time when the mind of the nation 

 was naturally very much preoccupied with other 

 matters ; and that the railway companies were 

 unable to provide the usual facilities in the way 

 of excursion trains, etc. Notwithstanding these 

 disabilities, the admission receipts, though, of 

 course, considerably below the average, sufficiently 

 indicated that, although shorn of some of its 

 features, the show could still hold its own with 

 the ordinary sightseer as well as the agriculturist, 

 an attendance of over 24,000 of the paying public 

 on Whit Monday serving to emphasize this. One 

 of the satisfactory results of holding the show 

 was that it convinced those who had been most 

 opposed to this that the right course had been 

 pursued. 



So far as the administrative side of the show 

 was concerned, the war undoubtedly gave rise 

 to many anxieties, in addition to those of a financial 

 character arising out of the enhanced cost of 

 material timber especially and labour. There 

 were constantly occurring what in old plays used 

 to be described as " alarums," or, in more modern 

 phraseology, ;t bolts from the blue," creating 

 temporary misgivings as to whether the obstacles 

 thereby created were capable of being surmounted. 

 For instance, not many days before the show 



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