EXHIBITS AT MUSEUM

Press, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 25300, 27 September 1947, Page 2

EXHIBITS AT MUSEUM

JAPANESE MATERIAL ON DISPLAY Exhibits of Japanese material in. the Canterbury Museum have in previous years been confined mainly to the fine arts; but a collection of farm implements and household utensils from peasant life have now been put on display. The exhibits have been obtained by Captain A. W. Allo, of the Army Educational and Welfare Service, who has been specialising in research on agricultural affairs in Japan. The material he has obtained is typical of the primitive farm implements used by the Japanese peasant farmer. Prominent in the. display is a single furrow hand plough,-and with it a harrow and set of field-work hoes. A curi-ous-looking instrument called a scuifler appears to be prototype of the cultivator used in modern farming. Of interest in the display are the traditional necessities of the Japanese, household—a mattress and pillow made from rice straw. With it go a set of plaited sandals and a rope, There is also a raincoat made from coconut fibre. Two large wooden buckets that can be carried on a balance pole are used by the Japanese peasant to spread human manure, with the aid of a little wooden ladle, on the fields. Some coarse chinaware of the type used in a typical Japanese household is also included in the display. The spring arrival of some of the migratory birds to New Zealand is dealt with in another museum exhibit. Each specimen is mounted with a map that shows at a glance the area from which the particular bird makes its way? „ , One of these birds—the Pacific Godwit —arrives' in New Zealand during September and ‘ October from East Siberia and Alaska. Some of the related shore birds are also shown. The arrival of some of the tropical birds like th? cuckoo is also dealt with. The shining cuckoo, which has been heard this month in the North comes from the Solomon Islands. The larger long-tailed *cuckoo is also displayed. It comes from the New Hebrides and East Tahiti.

During the last few weeks the Canterbury Museum has been closed for its annual spring cleaning, but it will reopen on Monday afternoon.