CHAPTER XV 
COLONIAL COMPETITIONS 
tions I give a report of the most recent held in Queensland 
and in Victoria. 
“The twelfth egg-laying competition of the Queensland Agricul- 
tural College was brought to a successful close on 81st March 1916. 
Fifty-three pens competed. As usual, Leghorns predominated, 
there being forty pens of White and one of Brown Leghorns. Of 
the other breeds there were seven pens of Black Orpingtons, two 
of Silver Wyandottes, two of Rhode Island Reds, and one of 
Plymouth Rocks. With few exceptions, the results are highly 
satisfactory. Many of the pens laid a total closely approximating 
the winners’, and it can justly be claimed that, with a little luck, 
any one of the leading pens might have taken first place. It must 
be recognised that luck plays a part. Incidental troubles with 
warts, moulting, etce., may prevent a pen from gaining first place, 
and so winning a prize. Hence to be among the leaders in such 
a competition is a guarantee of high egg-laying capacity equal to 
that of the actual winners. 
‘Certain features require recognition. Many of the Leghorns 
are getting very small and weedy. In this there is a grave danger 
that the stamina of the breed will be undermined through breeding 
too exclusively for egg-production. With the Black Orpingtons 
some of the pens are not so true to type as could be desired. That 
these competitions have done a great deal to improve the egg- 
laying capacity of the various breeds is undoubted. But it is im- 
portant to preserve the type of the breed ; hence in the conditions 
for our 1917-1918 competition more exacting conditions will be 
imposed, as regards trueness to type. As these egg-laying com- 
petitions have demonstrated that the lighter Mediterranean breeds 
130 
I: order to compare English and Colonial egg-laying competi- 
