EXHIBITION AUGURIES

Evening Post, Volume CXXVI, Issue 81, 3 October 1938, Page 8

EXHIBITION AUGURIES

The commemoration tablet laid by his Excellency the Governor-General (Lord Galway) at the site of the New Zealand Centennial Exhibition on Saturday afternoon marks an important stage in the progress of the great scheme which is transforming a large area by the shores of Lyall Bay. The work; described by the Mayor (Mr. T. C. A. Hislop), who has heen one of its prime movers, is already taking shape in the frame of extensive buildings which will house an exhibition worthy of the occasion, the centenary of New Zealand's existence as a natipn. The promoters deserve the highest praise for the untiring efforts which, have overcome difficulties of all kinds. The Government, as the Minister of Commerce (Mr. Sullivan) pointed out, has displayed the keenest interest in vthe development of the scheme to the extent of granting a subsidy of £50,000 and a loan of £25,000 free of charge. It remains for the public to see it through by every form of support in keeping with the reputation of Wellington as the Capital City. The Exhibition will be both national and international. As part of the national celebrations it will concentrate the memories of a hundred years of advancement from the earliest days of settlement and colonisation inaugurated by the Treaty of Waitangi and the operations of the New Zealand Company, which founded Wellington, to the present time when the work of the pioneers has borne fruit. Thus the Centennial Exhibition has a definite and special significance, to which not only we ourselves, as New Zealanders, nationally, but other countries, above all the British Empire, internationally,- will pay due tribute next year, at the opening, by their presence both as exhibitors and visitors. It is hoped that the brilliant weather of Saturday's ceremony will be a happy augury of success to come.