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1884 15th Year of the Ellesmere Agricultural & Pastoral Association
Description
Title1884 15th Year of the Ellesmere Agricultural & Pastoral Association
DescriptionAfter the 1883 Show a correspondent under the title of “Echoes from Ellesmere” commented about people’s behaviour at the luncheon booth and how excessively they ate.
The correspondent went on to speculate that although there is a Gaming and Lotteries Act, there were still many other games of chance of a questionable nature at the show. [1883-11-08 p4 TS]
Mike Noonan
Ellesmere Historical Society
The final committee meeting of 1883 dealt with two protests from the Show, one involving implements that were not built by the exhibitor.
The estimated receipts and expenditure showed a surplus of about £25, and the prizes were paid in the same ratio as the previous year. The secretary received a bonus of £20 for the two past years. [1883-11-24 p5 LT]
The report at the 1884 AGM showed that 31 new members had joined the Association (7 had retired) and 97 members had paid their subscription.
Arrangements on the ground for the 1883 Show were similar to those of previous years but an additional gate had been erected at the main entrance.
Also arrangements made by the railway manager for special trains and “gave great satisfaction”.
The balance sheet showed a credit of 6s 6d.
The change back to paying the special prizes in cash instead of plate appeared “to give general satisfaction”.
The unsatisfactory harvest caused loss to some farmers but the frozen meat trade is now “approaching large dimensions” and its effect on the price of sheep in the local markets has been satisfactory and was predicted to increase in the future. [1884-06-21 p1 LT, 1884-06-28 p6 LT]
A subcommittee set up at the AGM to review fees, reported in August and recommended fees for dairy produce to be reduced.
Classes were made for a hedge cutter and for sack elevator.
Instead of the usual leaping match it was decided to have three jumps over rails and fences.
Next show was set for Tuesday, November 4th. [1884-08-02 p LT, 1884-08-02 p3 TS]
The annual stud horse parade was to be held in the show grounds on Tuesday 23rd September at noon. [1884-09-13 p1 CHP]
William Watson, the President, stated that he had signed a petition to Parliament praying for concessions on the charges for carrying stock to and from agricultural shows.
Stewards were appointed and the list of donors for special prizes was reported. [1884-09-18 p4 LT, 1884-10-18 p1 LT]
The show and arrangements for luncheon, band and trains were advertised. [1884-10-29 p6 LT, 1884-11-01 p1 LT]
15th Show 1884
The weather was fine, with sun and clouds, but with a wind, at the 15th 1884 show.
Attendance was either “average” or “fairly large” depending on which newspaper you read, although with gate takings of £73 vs £76 10s in 1883, it wasn’t a bumper year.
Both the Christchurch train and the special train from Southbridge bought a considerable number of visitors.
However the home journey to Christchurch did not leave until 5.30 instead of the usual 4.00 and this annoyed many travellers.
The quality of exhibits was equal to former shows and in slightly greater numbers than 1883.
Stock classes were all good.
Horses, especially light classes, were “quite up to the average”. Again the draught horses were the best class of horses.
The trap horses were allowed to perform.
This was not done at the Christchurch show but was in England.
The horse jumping events were the main attraction during the day.
The sheep which were chiefly long-wools, were of fairly good quality. Leicesters apparently returned to the Show. A single exhibitor, Charles Withell, entered the sheep in the Lincoln classes and Merinos were entirely absent.
The cattle in all classes were excellent, and 'perhaps the best seen at any Leeston Show'.
Pigs were “really excellent” or of “fairly good quality” but there was more competition among them than in some other classes. Some of the pigs were too fat according to the judges.
Only 4 sheep dogs were entered and one did not turn up.
Grain & grass exhibits were small in number but of good quality on the whole.
There was a good display of produce, implements and local industries.
As noted above, a new class for mechanical hedge cutter had been set up and J. Osborne & A. Werner entered a steam motor hedge cutter with a horse providing some of the power.
Unfortunately in trials it did not work well.
There were only two cheeses, and five hams and bacon flitches exhibited. The fresh butter was fairly good in quality.
The wool of 100,000 sheep of the district was represented by 12 fleeces- all long wool of fair merit.
Burnham school band played a number of selections very nicely.
As with 1883, a Round-about, several games of chance, a shooting gallery and other entertainments were present.
Refreshments at several booths but the most prominent was Walter Spring from Leeston Hotel with a very good cold luncheon.
Arrangements were good but it was 3 o’clock before the majority of judging was finished. [1884-11-04 p2 TS, 1884-11-05 p4 CHP, 1884-11-05 p6 LT]
Date1883-1884SourcePapers PastLocationLeeston
DescriptionAfter the 1883 Show a correspondent under the title of “Echoes from Ellesmere” commented about people’s behaviour at the luncheon booth and how excessively they ate. The correspondent went on to speculate that although there is a Gaming and Lotteries Act, there were still many other games of chance of a questionable nature at the show. [1883-11-08 p4 TS]
Mike Noonan
Ellesmere Historical Society
The final committee meeting of 1883 dealt with two protests from the Show, one involving implements that were not built by the exhibitor.
The estimated receipts and expenditure showed a surplus of about £25, and the prizes were paid in the same ratio as the previous year. The secretary received a bonus of £20 for the two past years. [1883-11-24 p5 LT]
The report at the 1884 AGM showed that 31 new members had joined the Association (7 had retired) and 97 members had paid their subscription.
Arrangements on the ground for the 1883 Show were similar to those of previous years but an additional gate had been erected at the main entrance.
Also arrangements made by the railway manager for special trains and “gave great satisfaction”.
The balance sheet showed a credit of 6s 6d.
The change back to paying the special prizes in cash instead of plate appeared “to give general satisfaction”.
The unsatisfactory harvest caused loss to some farmers but the frozen meat trade is now “approaching large dimensions” and its effect on the price of sheep in the local markets has been satisfactory and was predicted to increase in the future. [1884-06-21 p1 LT, 1884-06-28 p6 LT]
A subcommittee set up at the AGM to review fees, reported in August and recommended fees for dairy produce to be reduced.
Classes were made for a hedge cutter and for sack elevator.
Instead of the usual leaping match it was decided to have three jumps over rails and fences.
Next show was set for Tuesday, November 4th. [1884-08-02 p LT, 1884-08-02 p3 TS]
The annual stud horse parade was to be held in the show grounds on Tuesday 23rd September at noon. [1884-09-13 p1 CHP]
William Watson, the President, stated that he had signed a petition to Parliament praying for concessions on the charges for carrying stock to and from agricultural shows.
Stewards were appointed and the list of donors for special prizes was reported. [1884-09-18 p4 LT, 1884-10-18 p1 LT]
The show and arrangements for luncheon, band and trains were advertised. [1884-10-29 p6 LT, 1884-11-01 p1 LT]
15th Show 1884
The weather was fine, with sun and clouds, but with a wind, at the 15th 1884 show.
Attendance was either “average” or “fairly large” depending on which newspaper you read, although with gate takings of £73 vs £76 10s in 1883, it wasn’t a bumper year.
Both the Christchurch train and the special train from Southbridge bought a considerable number of visitors.
However the home journey to Christchurch did not leave until 5.30 instead of the usual 4.00 and this annoyed many travellers.
The quality of exhibits was equal to former shows and in slightly greater numbers than 1883.
Stock classes were all good.
Horses, especially light classes, were “quite up to the average”. Again the draught horses were the best class of horses.
The trap horses were allowed to perform.
This was not done at the Christchurch show but was in England.
The horse jumping events were the main attraction during the day.
The sheep which were chiefly long-wools, were of fairly good quality. Leicesters apparently returned to the Show. A single exhibitor, Charles Withell, entered the sheep in the Lincoln classes and Merinos were entirely absent.
The cattle in all classes were excellent, and 'perhaps the best seen at any Leeston Show'.
Pigs were “really excellent” or of “fairly good quality” but there was more competition among them than in some other classes. Some of the pigs were too fat according to the judges.
Only 4 sheep dogs were entered and one did not turn up.
Grain & grass exhibits were small in number but of good quality on the whole.
There was a good display of produce, implements and local industries.
As noted above, a new class for mechanical hedge cutter had been set up and J. Osborne & A. Werner entered a steam motor hedge cutter with a horse providing some of the power.
Unfortunately in trials it did not work well.
There were only two cheeses, and five hams and bacon flitches exhibited. The fresh butter was fairly good in quality.
The wool of 100,000 sheep of the district was represented by 12 fleeces- all long wool of fair merit.
Burnham school band played a number of selections very nicely.
As with 1883, a Round-about, several games of chance, a shooting gallery and other entertainments were present.
Refreshments at several booths but the most prominent was Walter Spring from Leeston Hotel with a very good cold luncheon.
Arrangements were good but it was 3 o’clock before the majority of judging was finished. [1884-11-04 p2 TS, 1884-11-05 p4 CHP, 1884-11-05 p6 LT]
Date1883-1884SourcePapers PastLocationLeestonConnections
CollectionEarly History of the Ellesmere Agricultural and Pastoral AssociationOrganisationEllesmere Historical Society
OrganisationEllesmere Historical SocietyAttribution
Researched ByMike NoonanWritten ByMike Noonan
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1884 15th Year of the Ellesmere Agricultural & Pastoral Association (1883-1884). Selwyn Stories, accessed 30/04/2026, https://selwynstories.selwynlibraries.co.nz/nodes/view/5702
