AT WEMBLEY

Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 146, 21 June 1924, Page 6

AT WEMBLEY

THE NEW ZEALAND COURT

SOME CAUSTIC CRITICISM.

UI TELEUIUPH.—CI>£CIAL .O THE .OST.)

AUCKLAND, This JJay. The following description of the Saw Zealand court at the Jimpire Exhibition at Wembley is extracted ironi a letter just received by an Aucklander irom ins son, a Cambridge graduate, and now at at. Thomas' iiospitai, London:—"l went to the opening of Wembley to see among other tilings w j lat .New Zealand iiad to show for herself, and I must coniess 1 was very disappointed. To be wise after the event is as easy as it is unprofitable, and destructive is always aasier than constructive criticism Nevertheless I shall give you my impressions. _ O£ what Imperial interest are our local biscuits, pur chocolates, our mouldylooking attempts at engineering, or our furniture? The market for these is not in England but in New Zealand. It is right to exhibit leather, timber, granite, gram, and so on, but what on earth is the use of wasting space on work of children at schools. There is a large stand of tawdry-looking rubbish under this" heading. No one doubts the intelligence of our children, and it will net further the trade of the Empire to show England such puerile things as chessmen turned on a lathe by a pupil of 16, especially when they are badly made, of bad wood, badly varnished, and badly exhibited. My chief complaint with all these things is that they are badly displayed— no sense of advertisement, no imagination, no appeal or assistance to the observer. It is all so commonplace, mixed and jumbled; so like the village fair. They should have concentrated on the really important tilings that are to advance our prosperity, and they should have shown them to the public in such a way as to attract their attention. The form of the appeal does not matter, curiosity, admiration, humour, or anything else, so long as they stand, look, and remember. The sheep models that do duty for wool are abused, both in modelling and dignity. The sheep in a glass case conveys no impression to anyone, and when that sheep has bow leia and looks to be upon the point of death the effect is not helped. The presentation of the cheese is-conventional. Preminently displayed in the case, is a notice: 'The New Zealand dairy industry is built, up on chemistry.' And then some remarks in small type explaining that chemistry is to maintain a standard quality and to ensure purity. This notice shows an incredible ineptitude. Ninety-nine people out of one hundred who read it will get no further than the large type. People never do. Chemistry to the average mind represents when associated with food dilution and impurity. IV means putting' in and not the removal of rubbish; and this will be the impression conveyed. The restaurant is a magnificent opportunity absolutely ruined, though decoration of the room with its bold red and black Maori designs is a triumph that has excited some very favourable comment. I found the tables full from 12 to 2.30, and a constant stream of people asking the way to the New Zealand restaurant. They were obviously under an impression, perhaps erroneously created by the Press, that there they should find New Zenland food. I myself understood that even if I were not offered pipis anj kumaras I should at least find a decent selection of New Zealand products. I went in and was amazed to find that it was an ordinary Lyons place, no better than the common or garden Leudon type. Standing out in large letters in a printed menu was one sperVlv marked New Zealand dish. It was lamb. But what lamb! I have sampled many yarieties of tough, unpalatable meat during the last six years, but for tastelessness, toughness, and gristle this lamt has had no equal. What an advertisement! What a wicked blunder!"