A WORLD'S EXPOSITION AT BUFFALO.

Auckland Star, Volume XXX, Issue 196, 19 August 1899, Page 5 (Supplement)

A WORLD'S EXPOSITION AT BUFFALO.

SOME NOVEL AMERICAN IDEAS.

Chicago's great fair bad the Ferris wheel md Paris had the Eiffel tower. What will je the "dominant extraneous feature" of ;he Fan-American Exposition which will be leld in Buffalo, N.Y., on the Niagara fron;lcr, iv the summer of 1901 is not as yet iiiown, but there will bo several features >f special interest, and at least three now ;outer»plated will rival either of the great features mentioned. For instance, the buffalo, which an arlent concessionaire hopes to construct on me of the vantage spots within the exposl:ion grounds, will fall not f;"' short of tue Ferris wheel as an attractive feature, for :ho buffalo builder is ambitious. It is his desire to have constructed on an open plot >i ground at the head of the "panoramble" i gigantic representation of the brute which stands symbolical of the city in which the »xposltion will be held. Two hundred feet in the air the shaggy '.lead of the great beast will rise, and from lib; soulful ejes, which will be turned towards the not; far distant Canadian shore, {learning searchlights will send their milky bars to the inner recesses of Her Majesty's domain. RESTAURANT IN THE HEAD. In that section of the animal where the brains ought to be the prospective builder would place a restaurant of more than ordinary beauty, and in the body of the animal the contemplation is to place a vaudeville theatre with a seating capacity of two :housand. In two of the legs winding staircases are to be erected, and in the other legs electric elevators will make constant trips. Another idea, which was born iv the brain of a man of Biblical mould, is that of the "Jonah" theatre, and the submitted plan sails for the construction of a mammoth whale of Iron and steel, which is to lie anchored in shallow water near the banks of the exposition. Dainty ferry boats are to ply between the shore and the month of the great whale, and those cheerful ones who love to enjoy themselves in strange ways are to be ferried from the shore to the tongue of the floater. There a smooth young man will hnve his hands crossed with silver, and after this transaction the passengers will be at liberty to walk down the whale's tongue to the room where for three days and three nights Jonah sat and mournud the day that he became a populist. In that section all will be light and cool and cheerful, and on a stage vandevilliana will kick and sing and cavort, and musicians will add to the gaiety of the scene, and will make many believe that the ancient stories of Jonah's troubles were much overrated. ETHNOLOGICAL CONGRESS. If the giant buffalo, loaded with theatre and restaurant, and with a head full of observatories and electrical apparatus, or the "Jonah" whale, full of music and entertainment, fails to amuse the populace; there will still be another unique feature and one of more real interest and instructive merit than all of the wheels and towers devised by man. This will be the ethnological congress, and upon it will be spent avast amount of money, for the management believes that a comprehensive display of the strange peoples of the world, with a practical illustration of their mode of living, will be a most attractive affair. MAORI PRINCE IN CHICAGO. The sensational and often inaccurate way in which American papers present small pieces of information magnified out of al! proportion is well illustrated by tha following, which, under the above heading, recently appeared in the "Chicago Times-Herald":— Maui Wi Pomare, the unquestioned descendant of a long line of cannibal chiefs and a native Maori King of New Zealand, is spending the summer in Chicago. He is a well-dressed, pleasant-spoken gentleman with fine features, a clear olive complexion, wavy black hair and moustache, and has the broad shoulders and physique of an athlete. Mr Pomare, or as his name has been Anglicised, William Pitt Pomare, after his father and grandfather, the old chief having been so called by the English in compliment to the eminent British statesman who was the Maori warrior's contemporary, is a son of Te Nacre, a deceased chief of the Mgatimutunga Maoris, and a grandson of that great chief, Pomare, who in 1836 captured the armed British brig Rodney, and compelled the captain to carry him and his warriors to a neighbouring island, which he conquered, enslaving the inhabitants, and declaring himself rangatira or king. * OLD CHIEF IS CONVERTED. Upon one of his visits to his former island homo old Pomare. becoming interested in the labours of the missionaries there invited Bishop Selwyn to come and preach to his people. Tie became a Christian and liberated all his slaves, making manyconverts and building the first church on the island, which is still a historic landmark. "Were my ancestors cannibals?" said Mr Pomare, laughingly, "O, well, when Grandpa Pomare captured and enslaved the natives of Te Walcura, or Kaingaroav Islands, he may occasionally have eaten a few of them. I presume it was both a religious rite and a hungry right. But do not be afraid—l can assure you that I am a vegetarian." Mr Pomare exhibits some of the war clubs used by the warriors of his people. They are made of whalebone and are highly polished. "With clubs such as these,' he said, "probably a- number of missionaries have been killed by my ancestors, for they were cannibals. In my native country some humorous stories are told of the cannibalism of the ancient New Zealanders. MISSIONARY'S LITTLE JOKE. "It is said that once a chief captured a missionary who was anything but a toothsome morsel, as he was old and thin, and looked as though his flesh would be tough. The missionary told the chief that he would not make a good dinner, and pulled up his trousers and cut out a slice off the calf of his leg and offered it to the chief. "The chief tasted it, said he didn't like It, and passed it to a sub-chief. The sub. tasted it, made a wry face, and passed it on. The next man who took a bite of it spat it out. The missionary was released, and after he had gone it was discovered that he wore a cork leg." The handsome young Maori is not at all such a person as would be imagined from his formidable title, which leads one to think of cannibals and gory baU ties, but is a refined and cultured entertainer, speaking English fluently. WILL BE A DOCTOR. He has been recently a medical student at the Battle "Creek, Michigan, Sanitarium, and is now completing the last year of the course here at the Chicago Medical Mission, at Wabash Avenue and Twentieth street. He was born at Taranaki, was educated at Auckland, and removed to an English high school, completing his education at Te Aute, the largest native college in New Zealand. He has plenty of money, his family retaining all their

wealth and having all their former prestige, except that they are not rulers of the people directly. He is a great football player, having a record of an S3-yard drop kick of the pig skin.

Rauparaha and Ranghihaeta, two noted Maori chieftains, well known to EnglishNew Zealand history, were blood connections of Mr Pomare. .