FIFTY YEARS AGO

Evening Post, Volume CXIX, Issue 104, 4 May 1935, Page 14

FIFTY YEARS AGO

ITEMS FBOM " THE POST "

EXHIBITION ATTRACTIONS

"Among royal roads for losing money, starting a newspaper or opening a place of public amusement hold a foremost position when the experimenter is a novice in the business," remarks "The Post" of this date fifty years ago, a month or two prior to the opening of the big Industrial Exhibition in Wellington. "Yet there are few people who do not consider themselves, until they learn better from bitter experience, quite competent to manage either one or the other undertaking successfully. The Government of New Zealand has, in promoting the Exhibition, entered on the 'show* business, and we have very little doubt that it will have to pay handsomely for its experience. It proposes to keep the Exhibition open for a period of thirteen weeks, at night as well as in the daytime. To do this successfully would, we are confident, tax the energy, ability, and. means of the best showmen in the colonies, and how the Government can possibly hope to do so we cannot imagine. The intrinsic attractions of the Exhibition itself are not likely to be so great as to induce repeated visits. Probably nearly everyone will be able to see all they want of the .exhibits in two, or at the most three, visits. To attract people after that there will have to be something besides the exhibits of industry and art.. The place .must in fact be a kind of pleasant social lounge, or else the attendance in the evenings will be. insufficient to pay for the gas, and people will.shun the dull and almost tenantless building. The attractions which it is proposed to offer in the way of sacred concerts, oratorios, band contests, etc., will not, we venture to think, prove very great to the general public, even on the few nights which it is proposed to occupy with them. We may have an immense amount of musical talent in Wellington, but it will probably be difficult to get crowds of people from other glaces to acknowledge it, while musicians suffer almost as much as prophets from the absence of general home appreciation. The Exhibition must be rendered lively, attractive, and amusing if people are to be attracted to it on winter evenings. It will be cold and dreary in the extreme if it does not attract large audiences by some means or other. The Government, having gone in for the 'show' business, must, if it wishes to draw the public and make an artistic and financial success of the show, act very much as private speculators would if embarking on a similar undertaking. It it does not it cannot hope for success, and we must certainly say that we cannot see anything in the programme yet put forward which will enable it to avoid finding the show what in expressive theatrical parlance is termed 'a frost.'" DANGEROUS INVESTMENTS. "The decision given in the Supreme Court in reference to the liquidation of the New Zealand Leather Co. (Ltd.), is, we fear, the death-knell of jointstock enterprise in Wellington. No man will now be justified in taking shares in any company unless he is in the position to pay up the full amount of his nominal interest within a period of, say, six months. He cannot, it appears, depend on. any assurance that only a certain proportion of capital will be called upi or that the calls will extend over a given period. If the company passes into liquidation, all the protection shareholders have relied upon in taking up shares seems to dissolve, and t,hey become immediately liable for the whole of the unpaid-up balance on their shares. Many of those who took up shares in the New Zealand Leather Company will probably have to seek the protection of the Bankruptcy Court. To many there will be no other means of escape, and we fully expect to see a plentiful crop of insolvencies arise from the liquidation of the New Zealand Leather Company." RUSSIA AND ENGLAND. "The news that comes from two sources, and is therefore probably to be depended upon, that Mr. Gladstone ?Z?w? }° refer the question to arbitration will, carry with it a feeling of humiliation to most readers The aggression has been so pronounced, the Sft so apparent on the part of Russia, that it is most deplorable weaka«£nS? ! he + part of England now to attempt to temporise and resort to arbitration. Who is to arbitrate? No doubt Germany, and what chance of a fair adjustment can England possibly hope for from Prince Bismarck? He IflWrSS^ r! j°LCe if an °PPortunity is afforded him to humiliate England, and he will also probably be glad to have a slap at Russia. His arbitration would we imagine, result in establishing further variance between the parties, for nothing would better suit his.policy than to see England and Eussia at war. Germany would benefit whichever side lost or won. Judging from the reported tone of the Russian Press and the movements and reputed intentions of the Emperor, it appears that Russia is no longer careful to keep up the farce of pretending to desire peace biu is about at last to openly avow her real feeling. Probably she will treat Mr. Gladstone's present weak attempt with undisguised contempt, and take steps to render any further peace negotiations absolutely impossible." THE VOLUNTEER FEVER. "The Volunteer fever is now at its height, and there is, we think, a danger of the movement being rather overdone. It is, no doubt, necessary and desirable that as large a number. as possible of people' at the points most exposed to external attack should be trained to the use of arms, and the zeal with which such corps are being established'in the chief towns shows that this necessity is generally recognised. Useful corps are being formed in all the cities on terms which relieves the Government of all cost save the supply of arms; and there can be no doubt that ere long a very large body of well-drilled and effective men will be available for service, at very short notice, in Dunedin, Auckland. Christchurch, and Wellington. The military spirit, however, appears to be spreading inland, and from more or less remote country districts come reports of the formation of volunteer companies, which tender their services on the regular capitation terms. We do not think that any such offers should be entertained just now by the Defence Department. Companies which are beyond the reach of railway communication with the coast, and which could not reach it within thrpe or four days, are really of no use under existing circumstances, and they will simply use arms and accoutrements which might be more" profitably entrusted to other hands. In accepting any further offers of service, this point of distance from the places where they would be required, if ever required at all, should be kept constantly in view. While town corps which are immediately available for service if occasion requires it, are doing without capitation and finding their own uniforms, no public money should be spent on inland corps which would be unable to respond promptly to any call to repel attack from a foreign foe." DEMAND FOR WAR MAP. "The War Map of Afghanistan, issued as a supplement to the 'Evening Post' last night, met with unmistakable favour at the hands pf the public. Our prdinarx edition of .7000 copies

wan very soon exhausted, and a second large edition had to be struck off. The demand even then could not fully be supplied, and we were unable to satisfy the many requests for extra copies. It is pleasing to find the public so appreciative of a really good thing. The manner in which* the map was drawn by Mr. Brandon and lithographed by Messrs. Bock and Cousins, reflects the utmost credit upon them, and we had very great pleasure indeed, in presenting such a useful, handsome,) and reliable map, io. pus readers."