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CHESTER DAIRY SHOW.

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CHESTER DAIRY SHOW. PRIZE* DISTRIBUTION. LORD CREWE ON CHEESEMAKING. IS BDUCATION SPOILING FARMERS' DAUQHTERS ? The distribution of prizes in connection with the Chester Dairy Show took place in the Assembly Room of the Town Hall on Wednesday afternoon, in the presence of a large gathering. The Earl of Crewe, president of the association, occupied the chair, and he was supported by the Countess of Crewe, Lady Annabel Crewe Milnes, the Lord Bishop, the Very Rev. the Dean, the Mayoress (Mrs. H. T. Brown), Mrs. B. C. Roberts and Miss Roberts, Mr. Henry Tolle- mache, M.P., Mr. W. H. Verdin, Mr. James Tomkinson, M.P., Mr. George Barbour, Mr. Harry Barnston, the Rev. T. J. Evans, Mr. John Thompson, thejsecretary (Mr. R. Challinor), Ac. Apologies for absence were received from the High Sheriff (Mr. B. C. Roberts), the Earl of Haddington, Lord Tollemache, Sir Phillip Grey Egerton, Sir John Brunner, M.P., Col. Cotton- Jodrell, Mr. Hornby, Colonel France Hayhurst, Mr. Ralph Brocklebank, Mr. R. L. Barker, Sir Joseph Vordin, Mr. Cudworth H. Poole, Mr. J. Hoult, M.P., Mr. J. G. Holmes, Mr. Lyle Smyth, Mr. A. F. Douglass, Dr. Stolterfotb, Captain Massie, Mr. George Dickson, Ac. Mr. George Barbour, (chairman of the Association's Council) said they could not help feeling that a sad cloud was cast over their gathering on that occasion. Since they last met there they had lost their best friend, the Duke of Westminster. They knew how from the formation of the association, nearly twenty years ago, the late Duke was not merely ready to assist the efforts of the association most liberally, but was ever ready to give his sup- port and personal interest to the affairs of the association. They knew how often it had been their pleasure to see the late Duke presiding there, accompanied by her Grace the Duchess, who distributed the prizes, and what pleasure they had in listening to his kind and useful remarks. The memory of the late Duke was deeply impressed upon their hearts, and he urged them, in whatever humble sphere of life they occupied, to try to take an example in good works from his Grace. (Hear, hear.) By the kindness of the Town Council they were enabled to have some additional space for holding their show, and they were accordingly in a position to invite competitors to send a larger number of cheese than formerly. For instance, twelve cheese had been entered in some of the classes instead of eight, and that made the show look much better, and brought together a better sample of the dairies of Cheshire. ithe only difficulty the stewards had had was to find space for the large number of entries, and that shewed the deep interest taken by farmers in the exhibition, which was allowed to be the finest gathering of the kind in England. In one class there were nearly eighty entries, and in the long-keeping class, which was originated by Sir Philip Grey Egerton giving the first prize, there were 35 entries, which proved that Cheshire farmers were able to make the long- keeping cheese as well as the early ripening. It was an astonishing thing that, though they had been involved in an awful war, the commerce of the country had never been better than during the last twelve months, and he hoped the pros- perity of the commerce had been reflected on dairy farming. He would echo the words of Lord Rosebery, 11 1 hope that commerce has resumed its smiles, and that agriculture has ceased to frown." In conclusion, he heartily welcomed the Countess of Crewe, and asked her ladyship to distribute the prizes. JLirnSTNtt SPEECH BY MR. TOLLEMACHE- The Countess having discharged this duty, Mr. Henry Tollemache, M.P., proposed a hearty vote of thanks to her. He hoped they might congratulate themselves on a good exhibition. He believed the classes had been in most cases very well filled, and that it had been a really good show. (Hear, hear.) He thought also they might congratulate them- selves that in Lord Crewe they had got a most excellent man as president of the association. (Applause.) He was sure they all joined most heartily in the fervent words that Mr. Barbour used about the loss they had sustained by the death of their late president. In Lord Crewe he thought they had got a worthy successor. Might he also be allowed to personally con- gratulate another of their officials-their worthy honorary treasurer, Mr. Tomkinson P He thought he might congratulate him most heartily on at last—(laughter and applause)- having gained that honour for which he had fought so long and so gallantly. (Applause.) He had great pleasure in proposing a hearty vote of thanks to the Countess of Crewe for coming there that day. He was ashamed he had not had the honour of knowing Lady Crewe for very long. He was, however, a very old friend of her father's he was a boy at Eton with him, and he was an undergraduate at Oxford with him. He thought it was about 31 years since he drove over with Lord Rosebery to see his first horse being trained for the Derby. He was sorry to say that on that occasion. the horse was last—(laughter)— but since then Lord Rosebery had been more fortunate. He hoped their friend. Lord Crewe, would before long lead in a Derby winner. (Applause.) Perhaps, however, that prophecy he ought to leave to their friend, the Lord Bishop—(much laughter)—who, he believed, was going to second the proposition. They would all join, he was sure, in passing a hearty vote of thanks to Lady Crewe. They recognised in Lord Crewe the beau ideal of a country gentle- man. There was nothing in local life, in social life, that he did not support, and they delighted iu hoping that he was going to make his home among them, and to look after all those great interests—local, agricultural, and all .sorts— that he had started so well to assist. (Applause.) He thought they might feel sure that in the efforts he made to benefit and sup- port local life and industry, he would receive the excellent assistance of the Countess of Crewe. He thought he was speaking the wishes of all when he said that he hoped, although that was the first, it might by no means be the last time on which the Countess honoured them with her presence there. (Applause.) THE BISHOP NOT A TIPSTER. The Bishop, in seconding, frankly acknow- ledged that his prophetic gifts, eminent no doubt as they were, did not extend to the Derby race. (Laughter.) He was not sure that he could travel over the whole ground that Mr- Tollemache had so gracefully occupied; he was not sure that he ought to venture upon the field of politics even to give a welcome to Mr. Tomkinson, although he believed he might call attention to the fact that a prize had been awarded Mr. Tomkinson on behalf of his gar- dener for honey, and nowhere could honied words be more in place than upon a political platform. (Laughter.) No doubt that had helped forward ,Mr. Tomkinson's well-won success, and he thought he could work in the reward of his perseverance in another way. (Hear, hear.) His special duty was to speak of Lady Crewe. Lady Crewe they all knew inherited an illustrious and potent interest in the rela- tion of the Mother Country to her Colonies and dependencies, and that interest had an appro- priateness with regard to cheesemaking in the present year, for Cheshire was they all knew the Mother Country of cheesemaking, and she was rejoicing with maternal pride this year in having been surpassed by her own daughters and descendants. He meant at the great central show in London. He was told, and it appeared to be acknowledged, that the fair cheesemakers of Shropshire were daughters or descendants of Cheshire, and that their skill had really come to them as daughters ef Cheshire. If that was so, what could be more a subject for magnanimous rejoicing on the part of Cheshire than that she should have been beaten by her own descendants ? It was very much the case with the Australian cricketers coming over here. They were always glad to be beaten, at least for a time, by the Australian cricketers, but for the sake of our descendants they ought not to allow that to go on too long. They must prove in another year that the Mother Country of cheesemaking, and the seat of empire in that respect, had not lost her cunning, and he had no doubt they would be rewarded next year by the success that natur- ally belonged to them. (Applause.) They all joined in welcoming Lady Crewe on this occasion, and hoped she might often be there again, and that her infiuenoe might be felt at every point in that county, as elsewhere, in the promotion of the brighter and happier lives of the people. (Applause.) The proposition was carriecl with acclamation. LORD CREWE'S TtIANKS. Lord Crewe, in reply, said that while he thanked the Association for electing him as their president, it was impossible for him not to allude to the great loss which the Association had sustained in the death of the Duke of Westminster. So much hnd happened since then, so many stirring e reiits had taken place, that it seemed difficult to ooai-fve that it was less than a year since the DUKU passed away. There was no man who wore completely fulfilled the ideal of what an iiuglish country gentleman ought to be than he, and the two sides of his character—the serious side, which made him delighted to engage in every good work, and the lighter side, which made him devoted to all sports which were essentially English—mutually harmonised and enriched each other. Although the late Duke had become a sort of national chairman for every good movement, he never forgot his home interests and the interests of his neighbour- hood-a fact that was exemplified by the care and attention which he devoted to the affairs of that Association. (Hear, hear.) Speaking of the dairy show, Lord Crewe said it was undoubtedly the case that at this year's exhibition there had been a distinct increase in the number of the exhibits, while the exhibits had entirely maintained their quality. He believed that the Cheshire cheese trade- in spite of the occasional alarms which took place when, for instance, a sudden change in the weather threw a lot of early ripening cheese on the market-was now established on very stable foundations indeed, and that they knew pretty well what was the worst that foreign competition could do. In this connection he was glad to see that the class for keeping cheese had been so well supported. He did not for a moment suppose that LONG-KEEPIN* CHEES. would ever oust early ripening cheese from popular favour. The latter cheese was what the great towns demanded, and the farmers, of course, were bound to meet that demand. In view, however, of such alarms as those to which he had alluded, it was a good thing that there should be some keeping cheese made. (Hear, hear.) For some time past he had been the president of a body connected with the other branch of Cheshire farm- ing — he meant the milk-selling trade. The two great industries of cheese-making and milk-selling were interchangeable, and he was glad to think that there were many farmers who were engaged in both. l'here was no reason why the one set of farmers should have any jealousy of the other. On the contrary, he believed that anything which had been done by the milk-sellers' organisation had in itself proved to be of distinct advantage to the cheese- makers. (Hear, hear.) If they asked him whether the Cheshire farmer, taken in the abstract, ought to be a cheese-maker or to sell his milk, he would reply that it was not an easy question to answer. He believed, however, that a general rule could be laid down to the effect that where a farmer was fortunate enough to have a wife and daughter who could help him in cheese-making, he would be a wise man to make cheese, but that were he was not so for- tunately circumstanced it would be better for him to sell his milk in its crude condition, rather than to pay somebody else to make cheese for him. (Applause.) He thought they must all feel, with regard to milk-selling, that it was of immense advantage to the poor popu- lations in the great towns that the milk trade there should have been increased in volume, and that the poor people should have the oppor- tunity, which some few years ago they did not possess, of obtaining supplies of milk at a cheap rate. The result of the improved milk trade in towns had led to this curious paradox-that, speaking generally, the poor people in many rural districts found it infinitely more difficult to get fresh milk for their children than did people of the same station in the great cities. He believed that some people had supposed that the ADVANCB OF EDUCATION and the increase of refinement had somewhat discouraged cheesemaking among the farmers, and had led to some dislike for that particular work being entertained among the wives and daughters of the farmers of Cheshire and other cheese-producing districts. He did not for a moment believe or accept that as true, and if it were true it would be a great mistake. He could not conceive why any amount of educa- tion or of refinement, such as they were glad to think was now obtainable by farmers'daughters, should in any way interfere with their settling down and becoming as good cheesemakers as their mothers, and he was convinced that such was not the case. A cheese was a work of art—(hear, hear)—and if ladies could undertake such an art, for instance, as bookbinding, he could conceive no reason why they should not undertake the art .of cheese-making. Many people, he be- lieved, would prefer a cheese to a book- (laughter)—and would find it easier to digest the one than the other. Certainly, as compared with what our ancestors used to call "fancy work," in which ladies were supposed to indulge as a refined occupation, he would give the palm to cheese-making all the world over in prefer- ence to any nonsense of that kind. (Laughter and applause.) As they knew, Cheshire was not a great butter-making county, and was not likely to be so, for butter-making and cheese-making did not go well together. Still, they had among them seme excellent butter-makers, who took prizes not only in Cheshire, but in other parts of England. He was glad to know that the standard of butter at the show remained as high as it was. He hoped they might con- gratulate themselves upon having had on the whole a favourable season. Taking it alto- gether, he did not think that as farmers they had had much to complain of this year. Cer- tainly, when they looked at their green pastures —quite as green, in his opinion, as the famed pastures of Ireland-and compared them with those of some other parts of England, where it was difficult sometimes to distinguish between a grass field and an arable tield-(laughter)-he felt that they had very much to be thankful for. (Applause.) In conclusion he thanked them once more on his wife's behalf and his own, and assured them that they would both always be willing to do any little thing they could to support the great industry of their county, and to show the interest they felt in it. (Applause.) THANKS TO THE MAYOR. Mr. James Tomkinson, in proposing a vote of thanks to the Mayor, Corporation, and officials for the use of the Market Hall for the holding of the show, and for the increased accommoda- tion afforded, referred to the willingness of-the Mayor and authorities of the good old city to help their friends in the county. He was very sorry that he had not had time to see the show that day; he had been rather busy lately—(laughter)—and he had had so many letters te answer or to try to answer that he only snatched a little time to get away to be present on that occasion. He could not allow the occasion to go by without expressing his thanks for the kind words which had fallen from his dear old friend Mr. Tolle- mache, his old, successful, but never any more, he hoped, political opponent—(laughter and applause)-apd co say how very warmly he appreciated, not only from him but from many ot his political persuasion, the kin d expressions of personal congratulation he had received from many quarters. (Applause.) There was an old proverb Luck in cards, no luck in love." Mr. Tollemache had hitherto had excep- tionally good fortune politically, and he should be very glad if he could be as fortunate as he (Mr. Tomkinson) had been in other ways. (Laughter.) Nothing would give him greater pleasure than to be able to congratulate Mr. Tollemache very warmly on the particular point to which ^he dared say they guessed he alluded. (Laughter.) He believed there had never been so much cheese, or such good cheese, in Cheshire as there was at the present moment. Chiefly owing to the immense improvements in methods of farming which had been carried out in recent years, land in Cheshire now had upon it at least twice, and perhaps thrice, as many cows as was the case tifty years ago, and through the large use of feeding stuffs which were not available in the old days, probably every cow gave twice as much milk as formerly. Dairying in the county was at a higher pitch than ever before, and he looked forward with great confidence to the future. (Applause.) Mr. W. H. Verdin, in seconding, said he was glad that two farmers from his part of the county had figured in the prize list. It was a long way from Winsford to Chester, nearly as far as it was from Crewe to Chester, but they knew that one of Lord Crewe's tenants often showed horses at Crewe and frequently brought prizes back to Chester. (Applause.) The proposition was carried. The Mayor, in responding, apologised that he had not been present at the opening part of the proceedings, and explained that he had been presiding over a meeting of the Town Council. He expressed the pleasure it gave the city to welcome Lord and Lady Crewe there that after- noon, and assured them that the Corporation would always be pleased to welcome the Dairy Show in their midst. (Applause.) THANKS TO THE JUDGES. Mr. Harry Barnston moved a vote of thanks to the judges and stewards, and others who had assisted in bringing about the success of the show. Mr. J. Beecroft seconded, and the vote was warmly accorded. Mr. Fish, in responding, said that having judged at their shows for several years, he con- sidered the display of cheese on the present occasion was the best they had ever had, not only for quantity but for the general quality, which had been uniform throughout. Proceeding, he urged the importance of maintaining the same standard of Cheshire cheese all the year through. In very hot weather the cheese made was in- ferior te what it was at the present time, and they wanted to find out what was the cause of it. He had been in Holland and Denmark, and had noticed the uniformity of the dairies there. In Denmark factors contracted for the dairies for the year through-they contracted on the market quotation of Copenhagen for their twelve months make, and what a splendid thing it would be if they could do that in Cheshire. In Holland and Denmark the cows were milked under far better conditions than in this country; they had the heavens above them, and a beautifully clear atmosphere around them, and there was nothing to con- taminate the milk. He considered we had as skilful dairy maids as any other country, and to meet the present keen competition we must have a finer class of cheese all the year through. He thought the real reason why they did not get that fine class of cheese in very hot weather was because the cows were milked in stifling shippons, and the stifling atmosphere affected the milk before the dairymaids got it. If they gave the dairymaids the pure article he was sure they would have a finer lot of cheese all the year through. For that reason he advocated a thorough ventilation of shippons. (Applause.) The Dean proposed a vote of thanks to the chairman, and emphasised the point that education, however high, did not unfit one for the manual labour of the farm. (Applause.) The. Rev. T. J. Evans seconded, and the proposition was heartily carried. The Earl of Crewe suitably responded.

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