NEW ZEALAND PAVILION

Auckland Star, Volume LIV, Issue 213, 8 September 1923, Page 12

NEW ZEALAND PAVILION

TURNING OF FIRST SOD. CEREMONY AT WEMBI—TY. (From Our Own Correspondent.) LONDON, August 3. With the plans for the New Zealand section of the British Empire Exhibition assuming form the turning of the first sod on the actual site at Wembley came next in the programme. This Lady j Allen achieved yesterda}- in the midst of a gathering of enthusiastic New Zealanders and their friends. Among- those present were the Hon. Dr. Collins, M.L.CS, Dr. Colquhoun, Mrs. Malcolm Ross, Lady Cook, Sir James Mills, Mr. 1 Alexander'Crabb (official secretary to tlii New Zealand Government), Sir J. D. j Connolly (Agent-General for West Australia), and Mr. Dalai (High Commissioner for India). Sir James Allen, after acknowledgir the cordial reception his wife had re I ceived, explained that New Zealand never hesitated to join the Exhibition So far as was humanly possible, only Empire products and material would be used, as the chief object was to disclose : potentiality *of the Empire and to assis: • trade a'ud commerce between its differ- j ent parts. The building had been de- ; signed by Messrs. Simpson and Ayrton. I Mr. R. A. Fraser, the New Zealand sculptor, has been commissioned to design the plaster work. The structure | was to be finished by .Taimary 12, 1924, and everything connected with the interior was being: prepared in Xew Zcaj land. There would be a unique cinema to give education and instruction, and I the exhibts would include all that was i representative of Xew Zealand pro- | duee —meat, wool, hides, skins, minerals, seeds, honey, gum, and flax. There would also be natural history pictures. T-he gardens which would occupy some J2A acres, would be so arranged that the public could see something of New Zealand shrubs and foliage, and other features of the outdoor life of the Dominion. Only that morning, added thn High Commissioner, he had had a cable from the New Zealand Government authorising him to acquire an extra 17000 ft of cubic space for a restaurant, within which would be served New Zealand food products. Sir James made special reference to the Maori exhibits und the Samoan. The structure is designed in simpleI classical renaissance, and will be entered Iby a great central archway with sculptured spandrels. On either wing there will be colonnades, each having panels showing the development of Xew ZeaI land. There will be surrounding gardens, lin which is to be erected an original Maori hut (matatua), which was completed in 1874 as an emblem of peace between two tribes who had been at enmity for many years. It was pre»e' ted to South Kensington, and r.t the close of the Empire Exhibition will properly return to its original home. On the completion of her brief task Lady Allen was presented, on behalf of the contractors, by S-ir Robert McAlpinc, with a silver rose bowl. | i