THE MELBOURNE EXHIBITION.

Bush Advocate, Volume I, Issue 63, 29 September 1888, Page 2

THE MELBOURNE EXHIBITION.

■ THE NEW ZEALAND COUBT. (FROM OUR SPECIAL COMMISSIONER.) The thought which naturally enters a New Zealanders mind on visiting the Exhibition for the first time is : " Where is the New Zealand Court." By consulting a printed guide, or inquiring among the many officials and attendants he finds it, as stated in my last, near the. grand north door, abutting the Avenue o* Nations, and facing the large German Court on the opposite side. Having found it, the impression which the visitor receives is one of disappointment. The entrance to the court is very plain in comparison to those of all the other courts -which meet the gaze of the wandering spectator before he arrives at his destination. The facade consists of three arches, supported by four plain pillars, round which have been grouped rather sickly-looking specimens of nikau, toitois, flax, cabbage, and fern tree, which a reporter to the Melbourne Age describes as " native grasses, of .various forms and colors." At the southern corner stands a golden obelisk, representing the amount of gold mined in New Zealand since 1857, measuring 824 cubic feet, and weighing 11,275,306 oz., valued at £44,251,612. This obelisk rests on a hollow granite pedestal, within which samples of gold from the various mining districts are exhibited in small flattened glass globes. Alongside this obelisk; on. a stand, is a glass case, containing silver jewellery, exhibited by S. Kohn, of Wellington, and coicisttag of a tea service, and the Canterbury. Amateur Athletic Club's Cham, pion Cup, presented by the ladies of Canterbury in 1880. As far as I can see this consiiiutes the only exhibit;of silver manufactured from New Zealand ore. Alongside the golden obelisk it looks rather insignificant. On the northern corner of the front stands the trunk of an immense kauri tree, a section of which is placed alongside, shewing a diameter of fully 8 feet. The space in front of the middle arch is railed off for exhibits from the Mo3giel Woollen Company's Factory, and immediately behind this the same company has a large, well-stocked glass of shawls, plaids, rugs, tailoring cloth, worsted yarn, and hoisery, which are all receiving , much attention and favorable comment. The greater portion of these exhibits has already been purchased by Melbourne firms. On each side of the foremost Mosgiel Exhibits are two models of vessels belonging to the Union Steam Ship Company of. New Zealand. The decorations used for the facade are rather plain on the whole. Through the right and left arch the two main avenues of the court are entsred, which has a depth of 220 ft, and a width of 100 ft. From the Commissioner's office to the front, for a distance of about 75 feet, a considerable portion of the front sj.ace has been taken up by Queensland, thus making the be3t part of the New Zealand Court rather awkward for the Commissioners to utilise to advantage. However, in my opinion, they have done wonders with the limited space aud exhibits at their disposal; in fact, right through. the court the many visitors, who are disappointed with the poor way in which New Zealand's resources are represented, all admit that the arrangement of the exhibits has been carried out in an admirable manner, and sjvith careful attention to details. This reflects great credit on Sir James Hector and the Secretary of the Commission, Mr Callis, who have been, and are still, laboring unceasingly in making the most out of the material at hand, without, however, being able to hide the faot that New Zealand is very poorly represented. That the appearance of the New Zealand Court has bitterly disappointed the visitors from New Zealand is borne out by a kind of indignation meeting . lately held here by a number of them, when the following reso lution was passed : " That this meeting is of opinion that the, great mineral, timber* and other respurces of New Zealand are nol represented as they should be at the Melbourne Exhibition ; that the display of quartz from the goldflelds being in* f erior to that of the least productive mining colony in Australasia is to be regretted; and it is the opinion of this meeting that steps should be taken to improve the New Zealand Court and give a more adeqaate representation oi the mineral resouroes of the colony." The leading papers ia commenting upon this meeting and the resolution passed admit the injustice thus done to New Zealand, and place the blame principally on the Ministers, first and foremost, for their tardiness in making up their mind to have their country represented at the Exhibition, and secondly, when they did make up their mind, in voting such a paltry sum for the expenses. The apathy shewn by New Zealantlers and the delay in coming forward with their exhibits arose to a great extent out of this hesitation and almost indifference among the authorities* As additional factors must also be mentioned the present degression in the colony and the Victorian restrictive tariff* especially the latter, which is not likely to encourage the New Zealand manufacturer in displaying his goods _ here, as it gives him little hope of opening up a market^ Ab stated above, the entrance to the court is through the right and left arches ; but the avenues leading from, same do not i continue very far before they are divided i into four by a different arrangement of the exhibits. This is mainly effected by a number of large trophieß at intervals down ! the centre of the court. When I say the centre of the court I think of the court as a whole, that is, not taking into consideration the space occupied by Queensland. Thus the ayenup, leading from the right, hand arch, would, if qontjnued, have parted the court in two equal parts ; but the said large trophies stop the way and spread the exhibits out in four pretty wel 1 defined rows. The arrangement followed on each side is — manufactures bearing on or relating to food on the right-hand side of the trophies, and those relating to produots of the cultivation of forests, and of trades appertaining thereto, on the lefthand side. {To 6e Cfo»(«pcy