Mayor Opens Exhibition

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30062, 21 February 1963, Page 12

Mayor Opens Exhibition

Opening the summer exhibition of the Canterbury Horticultural

Society in North Hagiey Park yesterday, the Mayor (Mr G. Manning) said that the exhibition was the largest of its kind ever held in New Zealand or Australia. The exhibition, which incorporates the National Dahlia Show, is being held in conjunction with the centennial of the Christ-

church Botanic Gardens. The gates will re-open this morning at 10 o’clock and the show will be open all day to 10 pan. Tomorrow’s hours will be 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Yesterday, the exhibition attracted many thousands of people. Women, wearing clothes more often seen on a sunny day ait the races than an overcast day in Hagley Park, far outnumbered men. Even the secretary dC the society (Mr J. C. Fraser) said the crowd was considerably greater than he thought would attend on the first day.

The first visitors were queued at the gates Jong before they Opened. The most popular marquee was the one containing M exhsbrta in the women's decorative section. A long line waited outside this marquee for moot of the afternoon. Altogether, there are 24 marquees containing exhibits. Two exhibits which gained much attention were the New Zealand Lily Society’s formal garden and the Christchurch City Council's rock garden. In welcoming visitors from all pari* of the Dominion, and also some from Australia, the president of the society (Mr J. Wailing) thanked the many people who had worked for its success and also the many contributors. The chairman of the parks and reserves committee (Ct. P. X SkeUerup) said that he feM '‘absolutely speechless” art the beauty of the exhibition. Any New Zealander who was even remotely connected with horticulture would be in Christchurch, he claimed. “There is a galaxy of experts here," he said. Cr. Skellerup presented to Mr Watting three gold medals fropi the Christchurch City Council to be awarded to the three most outstanding exhibits. Hie council made the awards to mark to centennial of the Botanic Gardena. Mr Manning congratulated the society on the exhibition,

which he said represented two years of preparatory work. He said the Minister of Agriculture (Mr Taiboys) had earlier told him the exhibition would without doubt' become a tourist attraction for Christchurch, and for New Zealand, said Mr Manning. Besides exhibits from all parts of New Zealand, there were some from Australia, said Mr Manning. Hoped-for exhibits from Europe did riot eventuate because of the weather conditions there during the last few months. “This exhibition shows what can be accorded in a society with a spirit of cooperation towards a common end" he said. “I am just sorry the same co-operation is not shown by countries of the world.” The quality of the flowers exhibited at this si*w is very high in the opinion of the judges. Almost every type of flower grown in New Zealand is on display, while the dahlia section is the most important of the competitive classes. The associate' judge of this section said the quality of the dahlias on show was the finest he had ever seen. The judge of the rose section (Mr H. L. M. Wyles) said the standard was very high. About 100 varieties of roses constitute the exhibit of the Canterbury Rose Society.