PANAMA PACIFIC. EXPOSITION

Auckland Star, Volume XLVI, Issue 67, 19 March 1915, Page 7

PANAMA PACIFIC. EXPOSITION

» THE OPEKIHG CEREMONIES. NEW ZEALANDERS JOIN ALL NATIONS. (From Our Special Correspondent.) SAN FRANCISCO, February 24. I At a little table in the great east room of the White House at Washington President Woodrow Wilson stood and held down the key of a gold telegraph instrument for a few brief seconds. The connection formed by the closing of that key sent an impulse flashing across the American continent direct into the grounds of the Panama-Pacific Exposition at San Francisco, 3,300 miles away, where it arrived exactly at noon, and thus signalled the opening of the greatest exposition the world has even seen. All the members of the U.S. Cabinet accompanied the President with the exception of the Secretary of the Interior (Mr. Franklin Lane), who, curiously enough, is a Canadian, who became a naturalised American several years ago. Mr. Lane was at the Exposition as tbe President's personal representative at the opening of the big event. With a simple ceremony that epitomised San Francisco's pride and exultation- in its great achievement, a ceremony devoid of pomp and display, characterised by a feeling of reverence and gladness, the Exposition, covering 635 acres of level ground, and necessitating an outlay of over 70.000,000 dollars, was declared completed and open at noon on February 20. The declaration of completion should be accepted in New Zealand with the utmost reserve, for, as a matter of fact, not more than one-third of the total exhibits expected have yet been installed, for several shiploads are still on their way from distant Italy, England, France and some of the South American Republics. But all the palaces are completed, and at least 75 per cent of the foreign and State pavilions are completed also. Even as it stood ou opening day, there was more than enough to satisfy the most exacting visitor to the Exposition, especially from a British standpoint, for the Empire-of Great, Britain, in its Canadian, Australian and Xew Zealand separate pavilions, by far outstrip all the remainder of the world in regard to quality of exhibits and tbe display of tlie same. Even the most biassed Americans freely admit this. Opening day presented a memorable scene. In the early morning 150,000 citizens of San Francisco, men, women and children from every stratum of the community, marched in a joyful procession through the streets and poured into the. .Exposition, grounds.. It was fitting that the populace should have had the stnge first ill .the final act of tlie splendid drama of aspiration and achievement. Throughout the day the crowds continued to arrive, until their total reached the amazing figure of a full 300,000 souls. Chicago, St. Louis —no exposition in the world's history, the directors afterwards asserted, ever drew to its opening much more than one-half of that enormous and unlookedfor throng, for the day in the early hours threatened a recurrence of the recent rainstorms. The great open spaces of-the Exposition were literally carpeted with its own people when the two-hour service of song and oratory, that Jed. up.,to., the formal opening commenced.,. This /.wroony was the acme of dignity and simplicity. At 9 the officials of the Exposition, the men who had been charged by San Francisco with tho ' high responsibility 'of building the Exposition, gathered at the Californian State building. There they met Franklin K. Lave (Secretary of the Interior), President Wilson's representative, chosen to open the World's Fair in the name of the nation. The forebodings of inclement weather were quickly dispelled when the sun burst forth in all his glory and a perfect day came with dramatic suddenness five minutes before President Moore and Secretary Lane led the procession of officials otit into Administration Avenue, and commenced the slow march to the Tower of Jewels, blazing in all it.s majesty to a height of 495 feet. This swift and wonderful change acted as a tonic on spectators and officials alike. Jt galvanised ail into a glow ,of elation and relief that found expression in involuntary little outbursts of admiration and applause. It was a lovely panorama of beauty that spread out before President Moore and Secretary Lane as they walked along the centre of Administration Avenue and turned into the magnificent Avenue of Palms. Behind them the San Francisco Bay sparkled in the sunlight, and the green hills of Marin. Jeaned down smilingly at its farthest edge. All about them palaces of dreamlike beauty reared themselves in the sunlight, and before them, dominating regally , the entire vista of beauty of tree and flower-carved and toloured stone, the Tower of Jewels reared itself half a thousand feet into the blue sky, gleaming and sparkling in the sun. When the official procession had reached the speakers' stand, and those comprising it had taken their places, they looked upon thirty acres of radiant faces. And yet they only saw a small section of the vast crowd" that swarmed through every avenue, and surged tor-rent-like with wide-open eyes and little gasps of joy through every lovely court. Only a few could hear what the speakers, President C. C. Moore, Secretary Lane. Mr Hiram Johnson (Governor 'of California), Messrs. E. B. Hale, W. H. Crocker, Dr. Skiff (Director-in-Chief), and Mr James Rolph (Mayor of San Francisco), had to say. It was realised that this would be so, and also that no words, however eloquent, could add to the gorgeous 'beauty that revealed itself on every side, or to the magnificence and magnitude of the achievement. So speeches were made brief. At noon precisely President Moore, talking across the continent over a long-distance telephone, informed President Wilson, who awaited the word in the White House at Washington, that the Exposition was ready, and his word was all that was needed to declare it open. Upon that President Wilson laid his finger upon a button, and in a flash a Stream of mysterious energy, whjch no man rightly understands, flashed its way through the ether, and came to rest within the Exposition walls. The great gate of the Palace of Machinery flew open at its bidding; a silver finger of water leaped skyward from the majestic Fountain of Energy, which is a carved epitome'of the Exposition, and all it means and stands for; flags blossomed las if by magic upon a thousand poles;. the roar of artillery came reverberating over tbe bay; bombs leaped up into the blue vault and ibroke in filmy patches of white against the blue of the sky. The Exposition was officially open "to the world. The members of the California colony of Australasia occupied an important position in the gigantic people's parade, and were assigned a location well in the van of the procession. They were led by the Columbia Park Boys' Band, winch twice toured Australia and New Zealand. They, were marshalled by their chief, Major Sia_ey__-ei_ottOi who has s "last.

of friends in the Antipodes. The Australian and New Zealand contingent to t_e parade had a lavish display of flap of the Commonwealth and Dominion at New Zealand, and San Franciscans were treated all along the route to the Exposition grounds -with real Australian cooes and characteristic Maori cries. The opening of the Exposition was celebrated in the evening by a banquet set- in a representation of the famous Yellowstone Park of America. Here in the "Old Faithful Inn," an immense throng of notables congregated, the tlistinguished party including the Hon. Alfred Deakin, ex-Premier of Australia, with Mtb. and Miss Vera Deakin, who were the guests of President and Mrs. Moore; Mr. Edmund Clifton, Panama Exposition Commissioner for the New Zealand Government, accompanied by Mrs.' Clifton, the guests of the Hon. James Rolph, "Mayor of San Francisco, and all the Commissioners of the various Australian States. The illumination by night was-one of Oriental fantasy, and the whole of the grounds was a centre of -radiancy. By a single 'beam display of. the "aurora borealis from a battery of 48 -Scintillators to a sweep of the aurora lights of red, purple and gold, in sections of four and column batteries, the picture presented was an entrancing one, displaying .Scotch plaids dissolving and expanding in unit "reams, the whole operation requiring the services of 75 men responding to orders Of a conductor like an orchestra under a baton. To attempt to adequately describe the half-mile of amusement "zone" would require columns o-f space, but suffice it to state that some 250,000 people visited this centre of the Exposition, until midnight caused a clearing of the grounds. 7 mmm ~ l ~—~—~^~~— ~—*