THE NEW ZEALAND EXHIBITION.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXVI, Issue 14, 17 January 1905, Page 3

THE NEW ZEALAND EXHIBITION.

VIEWS OF ME. TWOPENNY.

(By Telegraph.—Own Correspondent.)

WELLINGTON, this day. Mr. Twopenny, one of proprietors of the Australian Pastoralists' Review," and an ex-New Zeelander, is paying a visit to Wellington after an absence of 15 years. As Mr. Twopenny is an expert in exhibitions, having, as iar back as 1881, when the in.terna.tioG.ju exhibition was held in Christchurch, associated himself with such functions, and in 1889 acted as one of the promoters and manage', of the Dunedin and South Seue Exhibition, his views, now that a New Zealand Exhibition is in the air, are interesting. Discussing the matter with, a "Post" reporter, Mr. Twopenny satd be was doubtful of tbe Premier's estimate that an expenditure of £20,00w would see it through. He thinks that a great deal of good luck and quite exceptional management will be required to keep the expenditure within that sum. if the exhibition is to be at all ade quate. The expenses of the Dunedin Exhibition amounted to £45,000. That exhibition was a success because its organisers fitted their outlay to the promise of the revenue, and because the show was patronised by a public which was filled with a good deal of patriotism. It came just after a period of depression, and it succeeded in its aim, which was rather to give heart to the colony and brusli away the cobwebs of pessimism than to be an irrelevant collection of the colony's products. Tne exhibition now projected will hardly be able to expect this patriotic stimulus. If it is run on big lines it will require patronage which it will be difficult obtain. As an instance of what can happen when the "frost ,, hits an exhibition, he quoted the case of the Victorian Government, whose 1888 exhibition resulted in a loss of over a-quarter of a million sterling. Mr. Twopenny thinks it is almost a pity that instead of an exhibition in New Zealand there should not be a New Zealand Exhibition in London. The money would probaWy be better spent if this course was adopted. Of the success of a colonial exhibition in London he has not any misgivings. It would introduce the colony and its industries to a profitable clientele, the London public, and would by reason of its novelty and freshness secured an interest which would lead to a tangible expression in the shape of business dealings between London and ourselves.