Miscellaneous. 



60 



[Jan. 1908. 



"We may fairly hope that our people have passed the stage of regarding 

 these exhibitions as mere shows calculated to tickle the vanity of exhibitors, or to 

 gratify and minister to idle curiosity, and that they would look upon them as 

 opportunities for profitable advertisement or as object lessons, by a careful study 

 and practice of which, each, in his special walk of life, can achieve better results and 

 improve his condition." 



H.H. the Maharajah's reply was practical and to the point, as the following 

 passage, referring to the advantages of exhibitions, the questions of agricultural and 

 industrial improvement, and co-operative credit systems will show : — 



"It is not to be expected that an Exhibition of this kind should have an 

 immediate or revolutionary influence on the agriculture and industries of a country, 

 but they offer to all classes an opportunity of seeing what their neighbours are 

 producing, to craftsmen they are of special use in indicating the directions in which 

 their skill may be most usefully directed, whilst distributors may learn from them 

 of new markets, on the one hand, and, ou the other, of new sources of supply. 

 Whatever disappointments may be in store for us, I have no doubt whatever of their 

 educative value or their far-reaching influence in the cause of progress. I attach 

 great importance to the policy that we propose to follow, of hold i ; these 

 exhibitions annually. Experience shows that, when they are held at lon e intervals, 

 the lessons learnt from the successes or f ulures of one year are forgotten when the 

 opportunity of profiting by them next occurs. Exhibitors are apt to remember 

 their disappointments and the trouble and expense incurre 1, r tth >r than t ie 

 benefits gained, and the result is inexperience on the part of fcho Executive, and 

 misdirected energy or apathy on that of exhibitors. It is our nope that an annual 

 exhibition will produce continuity of effort and steady progress on both sides. I do 

 not doubt that the President of the Committee will take steps to make the lessons 

 learned each year readily available to exhibitors. As editor and originator of the 

 Agricultural Gazette he is already doing most valuable work in commuuicating 

 every kind of useful information to the cultivators of the State, aud I hope that he 

 will embody in a series of Exhibition bulletins, on Similar lines, the experience 

 gained each year with regard to the several classes of exhibits." 



"While I and my Government appreciate the utility of Exhibitions, we 

 recognise the need for continuous effort in other directions. It is with a view to meet 

 this need that, to mention a few instances, a Scientific Agricultural Department has 

 been gradually equipped, that technical schools have been instituted at convenient 

 centres, that a Veterinary Department is in process of formation, that the 

 Geological and Forest Departments have for years been taking stock of the 

 resources of the State and, last but not least, that efforts are being made 

 to organise Industrial and Agricultural Capital. Though this last subject may 

 not seem at first sight immediately connected with the Exhibition, I make no 

 apology for drawing your attention to the existence of the Co-operative Societies 

 Regulation and of a highly qualified officer, specially deputed to advise and 

 assist those who desire to take advantage of its provisions. I have little doubt 

 in my own mind that the main difficulty which at present prevents large classes 

 of the community from successful competition in industrial and other enter- 

 prises, is the deficiency of organised capital and the want of confidence between 

 man and man, of which that deficiency is in no small measure the result. Under 

 the co-operative system, any local body of craftsmen or agriculturists, however poor 

 or however limited in numbers, has the means of acquiring gradually, and from 

 small beginnings, sufficient capital to provide for immediate needs and for future 

 progress, and I would urge on all educated and enlightened men, whether immedi- 

 ately concerned or not with agriculture, crafts, or commerce, the duty of promoting 

 these societies to the extent of their ability. Apart from the material return, which 



