AUCKLAND EXHIBITION OPENED.

COMPACT, BUT INCOMPLETE.

SiR JOE MADE TO MIX WITH THE MULTITUDE.

Are Citizens Sceptical of Success?

£Fr«m "TrulhV Auckland Rep]

The Auckland Industrial, Agricultural and Mining Exhibition, Auckland's certainly not judiciously boom- ; «d Exhibition of 1^13^14, which for '^ifconths and months past his been premised to be ready for December % and to get over the 1913 I>art of the affair, was, true to promise, opened on Monday of last week,, his Excellency Liord liverpooi doing the deed, being morally and materially supported by. the Chairman of the Exhibition, Mr. George Elliott, the Prime Minister, his y?orship, our little Mayor Parr, and a / lot of nohpdles, and somebodies, mostlypoliticians, who had taken the Say off to' trip up, and whd the same night returned to Wellington to resume their "ax^notisTfjh^a Jn ParliamentWe h^^^^/'that the Exhibition Was opened^Ef Monday, tirue to pro-^ rnise. 'ftiat^BgUß openeci at, all' is a matter for cbncratulktibn, ! because to tell the truth there has ijeen a long chain of clrcum^taHces, such as Maori Epidemics, Strikes, and General strikes, which must have dampened -the ardor of the band; of junbusiness- ; like business men,; who have put their /heart and soul, their money, their time and their energy into tho thing, and certainly deseryed better luck they have met with) Still; the obstacles whicjh have strewn' their path have been surmounted, , and though obstacles; have to-be got ojVer, there is still a chance, a big chance, of the Exhibition panning out j suQcossful, though few, if any/ of- those connected with Oie^EWiihition have j gone oo Jar as to hope for success, ,6n; the contrary, everybody^ has pulled and is PUJLJiING 1/ONG EVLCES, J and seem inclined to tiie belief that I the Exhibition is; doomed: "Truth" is not of that opinion. It ia optimistic and trusts that it will be Its duty and Its pleasure to record, after the Exhibition has had a fair run, • that it is to be, that, .m fact; jit is a success. ■ • ..'■ ''■ ' ■;■>. L ■■'■ ■■/'}'.■. : . '■-'.•■.; One must not judge the Exhibition by the, run, the very bad tjiin, which it has < had this week. Weather coudi? tions on Monday favored la successful opening ceremony, and the attendance \ of 18,000 people on that day augured . well for the future of tbo Exposition. But the rain, the wretched rain, wUlch set m on Monday night, and kept up '■■„ till Wednesday, spoiled j : everything. Tlie roads m the Exliibitjon,* made, ol Volcano soli, of the dirty, clinging dark red sort, hampered everybody's pro- i gress. So 'oad indeed wia the, weather, so infernally hasty! were the . roads and pathways, that | on Tuesday only, about 4000 people passed through ■':■■ the turnsillea, and this number, needless to remark, were not overjoyed at the prospucte of things. Tho same can he said of the position on Wednesday-. However. "Truth* 1 does not wish to anticipate itself. ; The opening ceremony on Monday was not marked by Auvthing wonder-. ■ ful m the shape of popular enthusiasm. | Everything was' forced, jail the enthusiasm was artificial; •, ill was hustle and bustle, and it has to be recorded that the opening ceremony was marred by one incident which is not going to be forgotten m 4 hurry, and though Mr. Elliott has since endeavored to right the wrong, 'Truth" is ELfraid that the incident will not be easily effaced from the memories of many. "Truth" refers tor the Incident, wherein the ex-Prime Minister, Sir Joseph Ward. Bart, was, instead of being allotted some place of honor \ near the Governor, carefully deposited into a seat m the main body of the pall and treated as if i . HE WERE A MvBRE NOBODY. 1 Truth*' Is not netting itself up aa an apologist for the ex-Prime Minister, but ho is entitled to respect and common decency. True, at a banquet that evening, Mr. Elliott apologised to Sir Joe, and explained that ( % neat had : been reserved for him on the platform near the Governor, and Slrjoe accepted the explanation m a cheerful spirit. But "Truth' 1 would llko to know how it happened tnat on tho morning Sirjoe was not escorted to hid seat on tho platform. Everybody know of. his arrival, m fact the outburst when he entered the hall must have drawn the attention of all oh the platform to tho presence of tho Bart. Of course, the affront was not intentionfltl, yet, nevertheless, the thing happened, , and has given rise to much comment. Porhaps lv tho fact. that Sirjoo was treated almost shabbily,' though unintentionally, Is nothing compared with another fact, nnd that is that a largo number of tho guarantors of tho Exhibition, who have staked their financial souls that the thing will go on; were not even given BeaW on the platform. Naturally they mre wild, but what does It matter? Ifi the Exhibition Is not a success financially, what is srolug to happen? WM these puar,^S,ntorß have to put their hands m their *Wtf* ctH? Not a blt of k * The Covernl " r the country will bo approach*^Pand nsked to see to it that tho un-nusincsa-hko business mort of Auckland will not loso over the deal, m other words, tho people of Nuw Zealand will bo asked to foot tlio bill Of course. It is a people's exhibition. They will have to pay for.it. If It is a frost If it Isn't a frost (and "Truth" »lncordy hopes it. will not bo), will they not have a tea kiosk and a band rotunda? Prune Minister Mtuuey will bfc the man when tho tlmo arrives to auk for Government aid. As Sirjoo Is out, ho doesn't count— porhapj*. Even tho clock had to t>how how natity it could bo. It wan not going At 11 o'clock, tho time tho Governor opened the Exhibition, and it mopped „ at 11 o'clock. This hnn been turned to good account by aotno people, who made the point that the clock deafly loved to point to tho hour the Exhibition commenced. It cannot bo wild that tho clock went out on wtrike. hut "Truth* tnkc« it thnt the clock Indicated to all present that gcnctally the wheclH of IndUNtry were not going around worth anything. When the strfttc net In m r'en! «inn <jnt everybody projrnoKtlcatvd that rhe Kxhlbltlon wa* "»«ttled." and It is now known that INFLUENCES . <: WKlls SIOT '30 WORK to prevail on the Kxblbliinn Commissioners to KorioiuUy corwiUcr the advis-

ability of postponing the opening ceremony till January 1 liext. It was pointed out that m maiiy quarters the opinion prevailed that Auckland had not yet rid itself of the evil effects of the "smallpox" scare, that the effect of thaj: scare had bt«en to deter many from vißiting Auckland, and that on top of the "smallpox* scare had come the industrial upheaval, and this had had a disastrous effect everywhere, and that tho Exhibition if opened on the date announced would suiter. To have postponed the opening of the Exhibition, even under the abnormal conditions, would, m "Truth's" opinion, have been a colossal blunder. It was known far and wide that the Ex- j hibition was to be opened on Monday,.; December 1. Every, fetter which left Auckland bore the postal mark that the. Exhibition- was to open on December 1, and to have yielded to the pressure brought to bear on the Commissioners to postpone -the opening ceremony would have been fatal to the j venture-^-and a big venture the Exhibition now is. Accordingly on Monday the Exhibition was • opened, and opened, as far as weather conditions are .concerned, most favorably. It is true that much was lett unfinished, itf is true that a lot of oonf usiori existed, and it was altogether apparent m many instances that tfte Industrial insurrection had played sad havoc with the intentions of many exhibitors. The empty stalls, , the , unfinished stalls, the rows of cases, opened and unopened, the lack of enthusiasm on the part of exhibitors too truly indicated the gloomy thoughts passing through their minds. In the circumstances, it is not to be wondered that -naiiy exhibitors exhibited something more than their goods. They exhibited SIGNS OF "STINKfN'3 FISH" and the weather m the earlier part of the week helped to make matters worse, though m a great number of instances opportunity was taken by the more optimistic exhibitors to get to work to decorate their stalls, and also to enable, the carpenters to put the finishing touches to their work. As it was anticipated, Wonderland proved a great attraction on Monday. As soon as it opened up people locked to It and soon the chutes and the toboggans and tho Figure 8 Railway/ and the innumerable .: money-making, side-shows got quite busy. They made a lot of bay while the eun shone, and when the flood-gates of Heaven opened on to this part of the earth and made the roads impassable, and generally made Wonderland <fld;udland," all that was beard was the grinding and the gnashing of teeth and sundry swear words. As a result of the wretchedness of things Wonderland had to be closed up to allow ot the roads being put into something like decent order. But there <is a more serious aspect of the Auckland Exhibition than Wonderland. A/ an Industrial and Mining Exposition. "Truth" wants to be frank and honest From an industrial point of view It is decidedly dbappolntlng. It -is not within co-co of the Christchurch Exhibition, though it has to be borne m mind that the Commissioners did not set out to excel ir even equal Christchurch. Furthermore, from an industrial point of view, the Auckland Exhibition does not como up to the recent Industrial Exhibition m Wellington, "Truth," of course, ' Is speaking after a vislt^ on the opening day. There was evidence of a great rush to be ready m time. There were signs of confusion, and things were crowded and jumbled up, and . AIiMOST "PETTICOAT LANErSPI." Everything looked hasty, untenanted stalls, and stalls half ready did not create a first and always good and lasting impression. Perhaps, to judge too harshly on Monday's visit would be unjust, feat to merit a good word, to encourage the money-spending, and Industrially-Interested visitor, things must be made to appear more up-to-date, more attractive m the Palace of Industries, otherwise, tho Exhibition from the industrial point of view Is doomed to disaster. The same remarks can be applied to the Machinery Court. There were found empty stalls, an utter lack of cheerfulness, a lack of anything approaching order. There, too, was found the evidence of tho damage the industrial upheaval had wrought. Still, there are, redeeming features. Tho Technical College Court, the Government and Aijrlcultural Court, the Railway Bridge, and the area devoted to experimental grasses are exhibits and indicators of Industry, and must help to pull 'he Exhibition through. With anything like, fine -veather, decent roads and a settling-down to real live business, "Truth" can see no reason why the Exhibition will not provo successful. It Is picturesquely situated, architecturally It Is neat but expensive, yet not gaudy or ovar-gay. During the week its gay appearance was lost on visitors, who took away mementoes m the shape of clods of votcanlo soil. This week-end, however, should find the Exhibition righting Itself. It should find exhibitors moro cheerful, moro keen and businesa-liko, Intent on making their goods appear to the best advantage. It would bo unjust, as wo nave sa|d, to indulge m any harsh criticism this week. Sutnco to say, the Exhibition has been opened. What Is to bo the end of It? Is It destined to disaster or success? Let us hopo for success.