OUR ISLAND STORY " 119

competitors from all parts of the Province. The cattle show was held for some years on Gallows Hill, now covered by some of the finest residences in the city; afterwards in the field beyond “Black Sam’s Bridge,” on Government Farm, and again in a field owned by the Hon. John Longworth, at the Charlottetown end of St. Peter’s Road. After the‘erection of the Drill Shed, from 1867 until 1888, the exhibits of grain, vegetables and other farm pro— ducts as well as of the skill and industry of the people were shown in the Drill Shed at the Western end of Kent Street.

At the opening ceremony of the Provincial Exhibition of the year 1888, Mr. Justice Hensley stated that “the present exhibi- tion grounds and building were altogether insufficient to meet the rapidly growing requirements of the country.” “This shows,”

I “ o o a I u I . he said, the 1mperat1ve necesmty for prowdmg more spac1ous

grounds and buildings for our Provincial Exhibitions. It is gratify-

ing,.‘howev,er, to know that an Association has been organized and

incorporated under the name of the Charlottetown Driving Park and Provincial Exhibition Association and that they have pur- chased the property known as the Kensington Grounds, upon which‘it is contemplated .to erect large exhibition buildings in the near future, with a view of making ample provision for the grow- ing requirements of the Province.”

In the Legislative session of 1888, a bill was passed which empowered the Government to pay an annual subsidy, not ex- ceeding $2,000 per year, for a period of five years, to any company or association which would take charge and manage an annual Provincial AgriCultural and Industrial Exhibition held in Char— lottetown, and one thousand dollars-a year towards an annual County Exhibition in Kings and Prince Counties. No time was lost by the Charlottetown Driving Park and Provincial Exhibition Association, or by the Exhibition Associations formed in Summer- side and GeOrgetown. The driving park in Charlottetown was madeready for races in the Autumn of 1889, and the Exhibition

buildings were ready for the show of 1890. Until the year 1899, . the competition at the Exhibition held in CharlottetoWn was -

limited to residents of the Province. In 1899 it was decided to open the Provincial Exhibition to competitors from Nova Scotia

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