FRANCO-BRITISH EXHIBITION.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXIX, Issue 167, 14 July 1908, Page 7

FRANCO-BRITISH EXHIBITION.

(From Our Special Correspondent.) LONDON, June 5. A stream of visitors flows daily through the New Zealand pavilion at the Franco-British Exhibition. They range in social rank from the person of title who comes because h e has heard the King was pleased with the display, down to the farm-labourer, who warns to know what sort of a place hs will h\nd if he goes to New Zealand. The sporting section is the most popular part of the pavilion, and next to that the greenstone ornaments and the splendid collection cf specimens of kauri gum, while travellers of the tourist class express their admiration of the wonderful lake and mountain scenery displayed in the photographs on exhibition. The outside of the New Zealand pavilion is as ugly as ever, avid it is to bo hoped that the High Commissioner will have something done to relieve tile bareness of the exterior. A liberal display of flowering pot-plants would improve matters considerably. But it is a great pity that New Zealand did not put up its own building, as Canada and Australia have done, instead of leaving the Exhibition authorities to run up a second-rate structure for them. The' building is not only ugly, but leaky as well; and if the season should chance to be a rainy one, I foresee plenty of trouble in store for those responsible for the care of the exhibits. Quite a number of New Zealandora have viritcd tho pavilion since it was I opened on May 26. The first name to be entered in the visitors' book was that of the Kt. Rev. Bishop Lenihan, of Auckland, who was at the Exhibition on May '28. Other Aucklandcr.s who visited Shepherd's Bush during the past week were Mr. John Jenkfci, Mr. G. Hallv Campbell, Mr. John Pet ford, and Mr. S. B. Legg. Captain Pearso will represent a number of tho New Zealand freezing companies at the International Congress j on Refrigeration, to be held in Paris in I September. I Yesterday evening I happened to be I in the New Zealand pavilion at Shep- I herd's Bush, when a thunderstorm broke j over the "White City." It was an inte- , esting experience, and gave everyone pre sent a vivid idea of the way the New] Zealand pavilion has been built, or, rather, jerry-built. The rainfall ' was j heavy, and within two minutes it was coming through the roof in a dozen different places. It beat in through windows in which the builders had omitted to put any glass, it seemed to leak in at every joint, and rivers of rain water i rushed in at either end of the building through leaks between the floor and the walls. Within five minutes either end of the pavilion was flooded, and rain was simply pouring down on to the glass cases containing Mrs. Nielsen's valuable kauri gum collection. Mrs. Nielsen had to get to work with mop and bucket, and stem the flood as best she could. At the other end it took a couple of attendants all their time to cope with a stream of water which threatened to flood the building. As it was, a quantity of surplus produce exhibits were damaged by the rain, and the whole pavilion was a scene of dampness aad discomfort. It was lucky that the storm lasted only a few minutes. Had it gone on for "half an hour the place would probably have been flooded out, and a number of valuable I exhibits ruined. The trouble was due to ) the shameful way in which tha building has been "slung together" with secondhand material and apparently a minimum of care. It was a penuy-wise-and-pound-foolish policy to let the Exhibi- I tion authorities put up the pavilion; and if there is much more wei weather during the coming stmnmss, New Zealand will have reason to recro.t tha<t she did not spend a little more money and put up a decant building of her own, as Australia and Canada havo done. It need not, of course, have been on the same expensive scale as those, but it would have been vastly better than the wretched barn in which the New Zealand Court now finds itself housed. The special exhibit of Australian and New Zealand animals for the London "Zoo" is -expected to 'arrive at Tilbury to-morrow. June G, on board the White Star liner Persic. Dr. Chalmers Mitchell, secretary of the Zoological Society, declares that the collection will certainly be the most representative one of marsupial animals and peculiar birds and reptiles of Australia and New Zealand ever got together either in Australia or in Europe. .Special new buildings have been erected at the Zoo in which to house the collection. I had a chat one day this week with Mrs. H. A. Nielsen, of Auckland, who has brought her husband's wonderful collection of natural specimens of kauri gum to the Franco-British Exhibition. The collection is displayed in glass cases in the New Zealand pavilion, and is undoubtedly the most, remarkable exhibit in the buildLng. English people have never seen anything like it, and the visitors streaming through the New Zealand pavilion always stop to gaze in openeyed wonder at these beautiful transparent nuggets of polished kauri gum. The Royal party . were delighted with the exhibit, particularly the Queen, who frequently expressed her admiration at the beauty of the specimens. On the day after her visit to the Exhibition the Queen sent a representative to buy some specimens. iDu collection is not for sale, but Mrs. Nielsen offered a selection oi specimens to Her Majesty as a gift, and the Queen was dslighted to receive them. To get this collection together has bean the work of fully 20 years, and it is now unique. There is no other collection in existence which can equal it in size, variety, and beauty. The collection is insured for £.3000, but an expert who visited the stall a day or two ago declared that it must be worth fully £ l",(J0u. [The above article appeared in part of yesterday's issue.]