676 Report on Butter, Cheese, Provisions, ^c, at Kilhurn. 
districts of the West of Ireland in which prevails that vile code 
of usury called the Gombeen system, by which vast numbers of 
small farmers have been depressed, if not ruined ! 
Hams and Bacon. 
There were three Classes of Hams — British, American, and 
Foreign — and three corresponding Classes of Bacon. There were 
three prizes in each class, viz., first, 15/. ; second, 10/. ; third, 
5/. It will be admitted that these were liberal prizes. They 
failed, however, to attract adequate competition. Bearing in 
mind the magnitude of the trade interested, few if any sections 
of the Show were so inadequately filled. The provision trade is 
one of great importance. I have paid special attention to it in 
Ireland, where the pig forms, as is well known, no inconsiderable 
feature of rural industry, and where the curing of hams and 
bacon is a most important branch of manufacture. To this 
section of the Kilburn Show I therefore naturally looked forward 
with interest. 
Whilst in common with all who visited these classes I was 
disappointed that many of the great curing houses had not ex- 
hibited, there was no reason to regret the time which I devoted 
to this section of the Show. 
It gave me an opportunity of discussing many points of 
interest with the two intelligent and painstaking Judges, Mr. 
Klein wort, of 17, Water Lane, London (and a native of Ger- 
many), and my countryman, Mr, R. H. Thompson, now of 13, 
Wellington Chambers, London, B.C. 
Before offering any opinion of my own, I wish to submit their 
able Report : — 
In fulfilment of the duties we have undertaken, we beg to submit the 
following remarks respecting the department of " The Agricultural Exhibi- 
tion" at Kilburn in which we have acted as Judges, viz., the Provision 
Department. 
We regret very much it was so poorly represented, especially in Classes 356 
and 358, as in neither of these did the houses most widely known in the trade 
enter as competitors. And here we may say it would have been preferable if 
the goods shown in these two classes had been divided into sections, for 
instance : 
Class 356. 1. 892, 893, 897, 898. (Wiltshire cut.) 
2. 894, 895, 896, 897, 900, 903. (Cumberland cut.) 
3. 899, 901, 902. (Staffordshire cut.) 
In the items of Section No. 1 were represented sides of singed bacon of 
Wiltshire cut. 
The demand for bacon cut and cured after tliis fashion extends over the 
whole of England, and in the London district about 6000 to 7000 bales of 
this description (the produce of, say, 13,000 to 16,000 hogs, the manufacture 
