17 



exchange value. Such was the case, 

 ho'wever, and the committee, with a de- 

 termination not to be beaten, author- 

 ised the secretary to engage hawkers 

 to hawlc the honey from house to house. 

 This succeeded for a time, and relieved 

 the depot of most of the honey that had 

 accumulated, but this scheme eventually 

 broke down, and we realised we were 

 beaten through the foolish action of the 

 small beekeepers. There had been such 

 a rush into the beekeeping ranks during 

 the previous three years that in the sea- 

 son of 1884-5 honey was to be seen in 

 large quantities in all the auction rooms. 

 Fairly good ihoney, put up roughly in 

 kerosene tins, could be bought foT 2/6 

 per tin (601bs), and eventually a lot was 

 carted away for nothing, the auo- 



THE FIRST CONFERENCE OF NEW 

 ZEALAND BEEKEEFERS. 



Arrangements had been made to hold 

 the first annual conference of New Zea- 

 land beekeepers under the auspices of 

 the New Zealand Beekeepers' Associa- 

 tion at its annual meeting, to be holden 

 in Auckland on March 20tli, 1885. Every 

 effort had been made by the committee 

 to bring together a large number of bee- 

 keepers from different parts of the coun- 

 try. In conjunction with the conference 

 a number of papers on different bee- 

 keeping subjects were prepared for read- 

 ing, and the first annual report and 

 balance-sheet was printed for distribu- 

 tion. At 4 p.m. on the above date the 

 conference was callea to order, the at- 

 tendance being very satisfactory indeed. 

 Beekeepers were in attendance from 

 such distant places as Gisborne, Tara- 

 naki, Tauranga, Southern ■vVaikato, and 

 from districts north of Auckland. Every- 

 thing passed off very satisfactorily, and 

 the result v,as that a vast step had been 

 made in the promotion of advanced bee 

 culture. 



THE FIRST BEE AND HONEY SHOW 

 HELD UNDER THE AUSPICES 

 OF THE NEW ZEALAND BEE- 

 KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION. 

 Realising the great benefit to the in- 

 dustry (in an increased demand for 

 honey) that had arisen as the result of 

 the previous show, the executive com- 

 mittee of the Association were deter- 

 mined to make this, their first exhibition 

 of beekeepers' products, a credit alike to 



the Association and to' the industry. 

 How far they succeeded in their efforts 

 may be judged by the extracts from the 

 "New Zealand and Australian Bee Jour- 

 nal" for April, 1885, given further on. 



Although this show was held in the 

 very earliest days of our modern system 

 of beekeeping — ^only seven years after it 

 was introduced into the country — there 

 has never been a bee and honey show 

 approaching it held since in New Zea- 

 land, although over thirty years have 

 passed by since then, more's the pity. 



EXTRACTS FROM "NEW ZEALAND 



AND AUSTRALIAN BEE JOURNAL." 



APRIL, 1885. 



"As our readers are aware, it had been 

 arranged by the New Zealand Bee- 

 keepers' Association to hold their annual 

 Show in connection with the Horticul- 

 tural Exhibition on the 20th and 21st of 

 March. The Gardeners' Horticultural 

 Association had obtained permission to 

 hold their exhibitions in tlie Govern- 

 ment Drill Shed, a large iron building 

 about 150ft long by about 60ft wide. . . . 

 The table allotted to the bee department 

 stretched across the end of the shed far- 

 thest from the entrance, about 60ft in 

 length;" 



The whole of this table, which was six 

 feet wide, was fully occupied with oUr 

 exhibits. 



"The central part of the stage was 

 taken up by an exhibit of Matamata 

 clover honey, both comb and extracted 

 (my exhibit. — I.H.). The extracted 

 honey was shown in tins and glass — 

 liquid and granulated. Of this a ton was 

 staged in 21b, 101b, 201b, and 601b tins, 

 and a small lot in glass. The get-up of 

 the tins was admired by everyone; the 

 tins had been japanned, and on each was 

 a beautifully lithographed label in col- 

 ours. A kind of pyramid was formed of 

 the tins, which did much to enhance the 

 appearance of the exhibit. On either 

 side of the tins (as part of the Mata- 

 mata exhibit) the crates of comb homey 

 in lib sections (of which there were 16 

 each containing 48 sections, 7681b in all) 

 ^^•ere placed, and on top of these the 

 glass jars of extracted honey; the whole 

 forming a conspicuous feature in this de- 

 partment." 



In addition to the above, as part of 

 this exhibit, there was a large quantity 

 of comb-foundation, both stout and thin, 

 made on four different machines. 



Messrs. Collins (of Tuakau) and Beloe 



