AN INTERESTING EXHIBITION.

Evening Post, Volume LXXV, Issue 122, 23 May 1908, Page 2

AN INTERESTING EXHIBITION.

The St. J antes' s Schoolroom, Lower Hutt, was yesterday converted into a_ veritable museum, the occasion being' an exhibition of antique articles Jenfc for the purpose by the residents of- the 'Hutt Valley. Many of itheso -were brought ,to the colony, in the early., emigTaruV ships. The exhibits, lttnginff'yfromYaja 1 ' old-time policeman's Tattle, ' (reputed-, "£o' have been>in use over one huild:red'year,S' ago, to a collection of Biblesi. the idldjest, of which was nearly four htfridreit- yeats\ old, were fa^'too numerous an.'; detail. Several of the curiosi6ite,sV,^ho'vy;*' ■ ever, are worthy of special /cpmjpxptl'' Little did one of our ancestors'; living'U^i Shetland J,sle£, some two. hundred y&dxii •ago, think, while diligently epgaged^'in. plying her daily toil wittt a spinningwheel, that' the crude piece of'mech'an< ism, worp. smooth with years of ificejsant working, would one day;, be ejpa'in--ined as a relic of bygone days in. a la\nd fio far away. The writers ip/some of the old family autograph books,' several" 'of which wero displayed last evening, would most likely have cultivated a, better style of writing had they, -k'ntoin,' , that generations later it was to be so inspected, though the caligraphy of today shows no remarkable .improvement A letter /igaed by the Duke of Welling-" ion, and one with the signature pi Cairolus XIV., King of Sweden, attached, were also open for inspection. Some of the old newspapers snown were especially interesting, on account, not only of their age, but of the great national events i-eeorded in their columns. For instance, a copy of The Times, under date of 3rd October, 1798, provides its readers with a, graphic picture of the victory of Lord Nelson over the French fleet at the battle of thei Nilo, wliile another copy, issued on 26th ' January, 1793, contains an account of the proceedings surrounding tho execution of Louis.

Doubtless many of Wellington's -early setters would havo old memories' stirred/ by a paragraph which appeared, in, the 1 Now Zealand Spectator and the Cook Straits Gazette, in tho month of June, 1846, giving a- list of those people (many of whom arc alive to-day) who had lost property through one of tho numerous | raidb on the Hntt Valley mad© by the Maori? of that time. . This list includes the names of many of the ojd settlors' of the Hutt Valley who have' Hred to'feeV more peaceful days. In olden days, that ; tho Chinese, were vory clever at 'bandit crafts, was emphasised by a delicat^ hand-worked mother -bf-pe^rl fan, eacK stem of which was wrought with a different pattern. This and' other ChU nese antiquities, all carted by hand;.' were captured during the war of 1840.', Many other exhibits hare historic assof ciafcions. Here are a few : A gun takeii from tho Cawnporo massacre, 'a dagger from Tahiti, carved out of %h& bane of an albatross, and known to be at least! one hundred years okl; old china war&i which has seen tho light of th© world' for more than two hundred years, a violin nearly two centuries old, silver- ! ware cast in the- reign , of : Charles ll,' •ttard.by an insignificant Silver penny rubbefl shoulders with a two-sovereign Piece, only twenty of which are said to have been coined. A Chinese idol looked admiringly on an old-fashioned doll, which has gazed on the world and been' eyed by children for six generations. A' curious keepsake— a woollen blanket/ a little tho worse, for the wear and tear of a century— was another ( exhibit; old fcilks were in grand profusion, and there were articles which were stated to have lain on ancient tombs for over two thousand years.

'lho organisers of the 1 exhibitionarranged with the object of raising funds to defray the cost of the new church at Muntai— are certainly to be congratulated on tho result of their efforts. Tho display is very interesting, and also possesses an educational valuei Proceedings were opened by the Mayor (Mr1. A. Peterkin), and in the evening a capital programme, arranged -by Miss Trcadwdl, was submitted.

At the' Mount Cook Police Court this morning, before Mr. W. T. Hildreth, J.P., Matthew Bryant' was fined 10s, or in default forty-eight hours' impiisonment for having been drunk and disorderly. Two first .offenders were convicted and discharged.