PORT OF LONDON

Evening Post, Volume CXXVII, Issue 91, 19 April 1939, Page 7

PORT OF LONDON

EXHIBITION DISPLAY

"GATEWAY TO WORLD'S TRADE"

(By Air Mall, from "The Post's" London Representative.)

LONDON, March 23,

The Port of London Authority i» making excellent progress with the preparation of models and exhibits for the Centennial Exhibition. There will be seven models, including two decorative panels, in the 40ft square pavilion. An office in the centre will, be shaped as a small house, displaying illuminated photographs.

One of the most attractive models will be that of the Tower Bridge, correct in every detail, standing lift high and 16ft wide. The drawbridges are up, revealing in the background the famous Pool of London. This has been painted by a commercial artist, Mr. J. A. Johnston, of Advertising and Designs Services. He was thre« months in completing the screen, which is 14ft long and 7ft high.

To all those who know something of London this painting will be of the greatest interest. On the right-hand side is a section of the historic Tower of London, showing the Traitor's Gate. Nearby stands the great Port of London Authority Building. Sweeping round on either side of the river are to be seen the Monument, St. Paul's Cathedral, All Hallows, Barking, by the Tower (the Toe H Church), Cannon Street Station, Unilever House, and the Guildhall School of Music.

London Bridge bestrides the river in the distance and on the left of the picture are Hay's Wharf, with the towers of Southwark Cathedral peeping over the top of the dockside buildings.

Mr. Johnston has included many interesting details. He has given the exact placing of the Tower Bridge tug, and the river buoys. Also to be seen are two Dutch eel boats, which, from the seventeenth century, have been exempt from paying wharfage dues^, provided one of the company* vessels hes remained tied up.

The model of the Tower Bridge will be placed before the painting, the idea being that it represents the "gateway to the world's trade." The bridge will be floodlit. Huge plaques will be placed on either side of this scene. One will represent Britannia, and, in diorama, indicate Britain's exports to the , Dominion. The other will show New Zealand's exports to the .Mother Country.

Other models will include a historical diorama, indicating the advance in shipping on the Thames from the days of the Romans to Elizabethan, Victorian, and, finally, modern times. This will be 15ft long and 10ft high. A model of the London docks is also to be sent, and the facilities at the port are to be demonstrated.

The work of' making these .models is still in progress, but it is hoped that the Port of London Authority's material" for its pavilion will be shipped by the Dominion. Monarch from Southampton on August, 3 and arrive at Wellington on September ,7. The Authority will send a representative to Wellington to "take charge of the pavilion. • : ■'■ ; ; '