“Well Done Balclutha!”

Lady Ferguson, who was greeted with applause, opened her remarks by saying, “Well done, Balclutha! You have a beautiful garden, and I am proud of it and pleased you won.” She then went on to describe how the competition was started. She said she had travelled up and down a good deal and used to be worried over the untidy grounds adjacent to the railway stations. She approached the Rt. Hon. J. G. Coates, when Minister of Railways, and put a proposition for the beautifying of the station gardens to him, and the competition was the result. It had been commenced five years ago, and the first to win the cup was Burnside. Then Wingatui had won it, followed by Fairlie two years in succession, and now, this year, Balclutha had won the trophy, and the garden would be hard to beat. She had much pleasure in asking Mr. Pope to accept the cup, which was to be held for a year and the miniature cup which was to be held for all time; also the monetary prize which went with it. (Applause.) They would agree with her that these beautiful gardens made travelling a pleasure and also provided for the people of the town a pleasant resort. She concluded by paying a tribute to the judges, and asked them to accept the warmest thanks of the club for their services.

Miss Martin, one of the judges, was the next speaker and she outlined the various things for which points were awarded. Balclutha garden had a lot of special features which had helped them considerably. This year the gardens had been judged twice, as it was considered a railway garden should have flowers all the year round. On the first visit Balclutha had secured 67 points and a similar number in the autumn judging, giving them a total of 134 points. Fairlie and Sawyer's Bay had each scored 132 points and were equal for second. She wished to congratulate Balclutha station on its garden and also to express her thanks to her co-judges.