THAT NEW LOOK

Evening Post, Volume CXXVIII, Issue 135, 5 December 1939, Page 11

THAT NEW LOOK

CONTINUAL' GLEANING

INQUISITIVE HANDS

After a gloriously fine day, Exhibition visitors enjoyed a warm northerly breeze last evening,, when a moderate \ crowd passed tlirough grounds, courts, and amusement park. The Wellington Artillery Band was heard from ,the \ north sound shell, after a number of j inside performances, and the big fountain in Centennial Avenue was permitted to play gently, its coloured jets oscillating capriciously'in the changing breeze. , A popular feature in the women's section yesterday afternoon and evening was the reading of a'series of extracts from juvenile literature by Miss Helen Gard-ner, Miss Harvey, and Mrs. G. Wiggs. This performance was largely attended. THE DAILY TOUCH-UP. Keeping the Exhibition looking new is no small task. There is a great deal of white and cream paint, there are Yesterday's attendance .. 9,742 Total, twenty-three days 359,613 show cases, and the public are allowed access to many models and exhibits. The Exhibition Company attends to the general cleaning of the floors and alleyways, quite a job when their extent is realised, but there are the exhibits to keep in their original spotless condition. . As everyone knows, the public, admirable though their behaviour has been so far on the Exhibition premises, are not quite as careful with other people's thing as with their own property, and the legend "Do not touch" does not exist for a large number of people. Model drawers are pulled out, and things are handled. It may be quite natural for Bpeople to wonder at the height of a paddle lying in an outrigger canoe in the Samoan pavilion, but if everybody picked it up to find out, its handle would soon become grimy. It is perhaps natural for people in front of some of the many "*" informative displays to rest their hands on paint, or put their arms on glass cases; which are soiled by such frequent •contacts. The statues are well out of the way. Nobody has yet waded or climbed to strike matches on them', or pat them appreciatively, but it does seem impossible for many people to keep their hands off anything j within reach. They make a lot of work for exhibitors, and it has been the experience in other exhibitions J that unless,' the , effects of public curiosity are removed daily, the t accumulationsoon destroys the attractiveness of fittings. MATTER OF PRIDE. j In the .Government Court, where people stay 'longer at individual dis- ° plays than elsewhere, keeping every- * (thing looking new is,quite a job. Each q /department has its own-,... staff, and q everybody, as a matter p?' pride, keeps c everything natty: and "bright:.:: There *- are plants; to be watered, and flowers n to be replaced and there are thousands y of them. Painters are constantly at j, work touching up smudged paint. An- j other task, carried out by the electricians, is the maintenance of-; the ser- - vices throughout the-buildings." ■ '-v *v The general touching-up may; be "seen }i going on any morning -'up-tothe dpening time. With a daily population averaging 16,000, the Exhibition "is a day and night city; and presents: its own cleaning problems. The curiosity of the public appears to make more work for exhibitors than the large attendances.