THE EXHIBITION

Dominion, Volume 33, Issue 43, 14 November 1939, Page 9

THE EXHIBITION

Glorious Weather Throughout Day

FOUNTAIN PLAYS Women’s Section Proves Popular In the finest weather since opening day, many Wellington people flocked to the Centennial Exhibition last night. Crowds were large, not of course as large as Saturday or last Wednesday, but better than any other day so far. With the clear starlight tempting folk out of doors, Playland did brisk business, and the evening was a very happy one. The Exhibition authorities estimated the visitors yesterday to number about 16,000. There were no major events at the Exhibition yesterday, but in the women’s section dancing and physical recreation demonstrations by Y.W.C.A. classes drew large audiences.

Yesterday morning was a quiet morning at the Exhibition, as might be expected ; but in the afternoon the sunny grounds were well sprinkled with people. The brilliant afternoon, with a gentle southerly breeze, was particularly pleasant. It was particularly noticeable that the morning and afternoon crowds were composed largely of serious sightseers, while the Playland pleasure-seekers arrived mostly in the evening.

The evening, however, was a memorable one. It was quite calm, with a new crescent moon, and bright starlight. For the first time the electric fountain played. It made a wonderful spectacle. Throwing an intermittent column geyser-fashion 70 feet above its qjirved bowl, its countless jets maintained at lower level a changing plume of spray brilliantly illuminated in turn with every colour of the spectrum. Now it was the translucent red of flame, now yellow, green, blue, now the pale hue of mother-of-pearl, and now the iridescent blue-green of the paua. It lent to Centennial Avenue a final touch of perfection in layout and lighting, and made by far the finest spectacle the Exhibition has yet produced. The Port Nicholson Silver Band, playing in the southern bandshell, was heard to advantage, and added greatly to the liveliness of the grounds.

In the transport section yesterday the work of erecting the Maori Hall was being hurried on by Native and pakeha workers. Maori artists painted traditional rafter patterns, Maori lasses plaited reeds for walls, Maori carpenters were busy putting up the actual building. A huge wall, it will on completion form a most important cultural centre for Wellington Maoris over the centennial period. The women’s section has so far proved outstandingly successful. The pottery demonstrations are continuing there, as they will be for some weeks; but the court itself, with its widely varied exhibits, has roused great interest, and daylong a group stands gazing at the pioneer house and the Victorian room.

An elaborate programme of exercises and dancing was carried out yesterday in this section by the Y.W.C.A. both in the afternoon and evening, and attracted many visitors.

PORT OF LONDON IS POPULAR

Manager Amazed At Stream Of People SOUVENIR-HUNTERS BREAK EXHIBIT “I have been amazed at the stream of people which has passed through our pavilion,” said Mr. T. R. Toovey, representative of the Port of London Authority, in an interview yesterday. “X estimated that on opening day 3000 people visited the pavilion and considerably more on Saturday. Throughout the evening our building was crowded. I was very agreeably surprised, as I had not expected quite such floods of visitors.” Mr. Toovey added that they had experienced difficulty through people breaking off portions of the large mapmodel of London’s dockland. Children particularly had been breaking off portions with the tiny houses and ships as souvenirs of their visit. Unless this stopped he would have to enclose the exhibit in a glass case. The Port of London Pavilion, situated at the southern end of the reflecting pool between the New Zealand Government Court and the British Pavilion, is a particularly attractive edifice. It was at its best last night, reflected in the still water.

The pavilion represents the old archway at the entrance of the West India Docks, a building dating back to 1802, when London’s first commercial docks were opened. Over the door is a model of a West Indiaman, the original of which is preserved at Poplar Recreation Ground, East London. The exhibit includes a remarkable large-scale model of the Tower Bridge, specially constructed for the Exhibition, with a backcloth depicting the Pool. On either side are plaques in relief, symbolizing London’s import trade into New Zealand, and New Zealand’s exports of primary produce which pass through London’s port. A diorama with moving models of ships illustrates the changing traffic of London River down the ages. Tim Port is depicted at three periods of its history, first as a green field with the cottage hamlet of the earliest inhabitants, than as a mediaeval city, and finally as the modern metropolis, with in each case the ships of the period plying upon the ancient Thames. By far the most striking exhibit in the Pavilion is the modelled map of an 11-mile section of the river, with its docks, thoroughfares, railways, and buildings, including the Tower of London and the London and Tower Bridges. It is this model which has . been mutilated by vandals. No exhibit in the pavilion has drawn such keen interest from visitors, for few even who have visited 'London have any idea of the enormous maze of landlocked waterways which comprise dockland.