THE CHRISTCHURCH INDUSTRIAL EXHIBITION.

Evening Star, Issue 6478, 20 December 1883, Page 4

THE CHRISTCHURCH INDUSTRIAL EXHIBITION.

o<*eom Quit Special Reporter.J

The second ludabtrial Exhibition promoted in Chris'church wast oprned on Monday with due ichd bat a* you have already received details ef tho ceremony 1 shall proceed at once to give a description of tho building and its contents, 'the rrouacl on which the Exhibition stands is the old Drill shed reserve, measuring 400 ft bv 1G >fs, and the whole of this av-aca is utill-ed" The Drill-shod itself forme tho mala bu'ldtog of th* show, it m<rvuuu'B no?tb7 4iffc, but round the three other 'Lies of tho filock has betn erected an ftr.ntx* Sift in width j-h.(l tVnt,'m height. In which the wnter portion of the exhibit* are lojat; d. This is'?nbstantially built of Iron and wood, and a boarJ.e \ flour has been hid down throughout, to tk»t everything is a 8 snug acd comfortable as in tho ''lnternational Exhibition " held here last year. Th.o hvge i-pice in the centre is left open to tho bky, and here tho heavier classes of machinery a;.-d agricultural implements are Idc.ited, with a handsome rotunda iu the ce&tre for the accommodation of the bands, of which, I ir,fty Lore mention, the management have a considerable number at their disposal. This will ba believed whou J. »ay that they have engaged the Clanlson Band, tho City Guards' Hand, and a ftrlug band under the leadership of Kerr Bin* which trio take alternate days lor performing sehotlons of music ; while inside there are additional musical attractions in tho w.iy of Mr Lindoigui's fine organ recitals, and (i wiles-- of concerts l>j tho Uhdstcburch Orchestral tfosi.-ty. This Society and Mr Laudorgnu, be it understood, givo their korviooa gratuitously. The Exhibition ia lit throughout with the eleolrio Ibjht, which has a fino effect when in proper working order ; on tho opening tight, however, it wi.nt out suddenly and plunged everything In darkness for several minutes—just when several thousand people were In the building. Tho only effeci was happily to cause some little amnso metit, and the fault bJng ascert&lned to bo due to a laok of pjwer iii the engine workiog tho elocttlo machinery, tho matter was soon remedied.

Ooruing to tbe exhibits, I may say that they are fairly numerous -they are as many as the buildlcg will hold, at all events—and fairly representative of the now greatly vatlod Industries of th s Colony ; BtiU several olatses that have betn prominent features of simlltr exhlbltione are either vtry poorly represented or without reprcsontativeri at all, and the remit must bo that Etravgera will gain a very' infcdedepartments which show especially disappointing weakness will bo oommeuted on as I come to them In turn.

Ah is usual with all undertakings of this description, a numbsr of exhibits arc not yet to ha,nd, or are not arranged properly, and it is fcht vefore impossible to go throngh every c!a»s in a BjMiematic and thorough manner. I have therefore decided, pavtlv on that account and partly because it will bo of more immediate interest to Otago readers, to deal with the Otago exhibits firit, no matter whet class thoy belong to. With this view I have gone over the whole buih'insr, and have come to tho greatly-to-be-rcgreUud conclusion that Otago is wretchedly represented—in fact tt Is, In comparison whh whst it is capable of, little more than a cipher. Let ua boo what we can find emanating from Otago hands and brains On looking throngh tho department of textile manufactures I find Messrs Koss and Glendiniiig's Roslyn mills strongly represented with a largo recess filled with goods manufactured there, including tweeds, blankets, p'aidings, flannels, woollen ya:ns, hosiery, and shirtings. Their shlrrings are greatly admired ; but the whole colleotlcn makes a capital Bh-jw, as also does that of the New Zealand Clothing Faotory. This latter oomprisps men's aud boys' svdta of olothes, tweeds in all varieties of pattern* and quality, flannels, plaids, and hosiery. Nearly all the fompauy's gcoJa aro of material turned.out by tho Moagiel Faotory, and tho tweeds and hosiery in particular appear to be of grand quality. The Oamaiu Woolleu Ml'l Corripaay tend a modest exhibit of about a d:z;n varieties of t weeds, which are shown to very poor advantage ; and thh is the more to be regretted, Inasmuch as Bou.e of their goods are of capital quality, and reflect considerable credit on so recently established a compwy, Their Bannockhurns and West of England* appear about the b33t finished. Messrs M. Domghy and Co. (of Dunedin) are dowu for some ropes and lines in this class, but they will not be fixod up ti!l to-morrow. In this department Otago does not show up badly. Messrs J. Robin and Co , of Dunedin. exhibit two vehicles which admirably display tho highclass work which th«y turn out. Ono i-t a Prince Albert phaeton with a folding seat In front, which SBeras particularly adapted to providing accommodation for children, and a seat behind for a footman. The under carriage is painted dark blue, picked out with white, and the body is in imitation cane-work Tho whole vehlclo i* remarkable for its light and elegant appearu-.ca. Their other exhibit 13 a singleseated buggy in black, relieved with lake and gold, and having a very handsome appearance, Messrs Keid and Gray, of Dunedin, aro catalogued as contributors to this class, which includes agricultural machinery and inaplomerin, but their good? are not yet to hand. The department is, however, a well fll'ed one, at) I shall demonstrate later on; but Otago has only two exhibitor cut of its many firms enj;a»ed in its many ram iO cations.

Our district Ib apparently without a representative in the wood ware or timbsr line, but In crockery it has Mesprs Coulter and Eccks, of the M'hon Pottery Works, who send an a*sortrnent of useful wares. Their article* consist of teapot?, basins, filtera, butter-j*is and dishes, flower-pots, and the like—all of a useful and mostly ol a plain description, though in several casc-B there is a display of some artistic taste, The brewerß of Ot?go mu.'.tei: in fair force, Messrs Speight and 00. and Mr M Joel, of Dunedin, sending hogsheads of their brewing ; while Mr J. T. Martin, of Invercugill, whoso beer meets with considerable favor up this way, Is, of course, an exhibitor. Mr Speight's beer, by the way, U not yet in position. Mr F. Gordon, of Oam:uu, Bhows some nice-looking pickles of various kinds. In brass and iron-work the Dunedin firms are conspicuous by their absence, such names as Burt and 00., Anderson and Morrison, and Bimingham and 00. not being visible in tho catalogue. Possibly, these manufacturers are contout to rel7 on the reputation they have achieved, hut what Is usually an interesting feature o! our colonial exhibitions Is thereby weakoned, - The 0 denial Barbed wire Compacy, of Oamaru, buow specimens of their barbed wire ; and alongside of them ia the rival exhibit of Messrs Woodcock a»d West, of the same town. The difference between the two appears to be that the fornix's wire has two barbs, while the latter has four, Messrs Sehhadt 8r03., of Danedln, have a neat case of boot-sole and labsl-outttng knlve3, which are beautifully finished. In the class for vegetable and other substances Kempthome ard Prosser's Company, of Dunedin, show half-a-dczan samples of chemical manures, which are accompanied by high testimonials from Professor Black. They are principally phosphates of lime, bone-dust, and blood manures. In the s*vme class tho N.Z.L, and M,A. Company are represented-, by a comprehensive collection of wools, including specimens of tho staph from Lincolns, Leicester;), metinoes, and other species of sheep bred 5 y tho Oompas.y ; Mr P. 0. ThralkeHl, of Plaxton.; Robert Campbell and Co.", of Ofogo; Sir John' Hall, of Hororata; Mr W. Postiethwalte, of Geraldine; and Mr James Gibson, of Tasmania, Mc J. R. Morris, of Dunedin, shows two l'av'gft cas-a of cabinet portraits, executed In his boat stylo and it is therefore almost, needless to say that they are remarkable for delicacy and ■artistic finl.'h They are Rung, not in the art gallery, but jiut at the, entrance to It—perhaps a better position for attracting notice. Alongside thorn ia a large assortment of photographic studies by Messrs Hart, Campbell, and Oo;, of Invercargill, comprising viows in the Like and Wos>t Const Sounds districts, and likenesses of tho last juvenilo opera trcupe that visited this Colony. Many of the viows ate well executed. Ou tho other side of tho ontranc3 to the art gallery Messrs D. N. Adams and Co. show a number "of Messrs Barton 8r09.' well-known views, of Danedln, Christchurch, West Coast spot,') of interest, and beautiful bits of scenery iu the neighborhood of tho Otago lakes. In the name class as iho abovo are plact?d p*per manufactures, and in this department the Otago Paper Mills, Water of Leith, aro represented through Messrs Fergusson and Mitchell by txceilont-looklug samples of their brown and ''grey wrapping papers. In tho art gallery are two fearful and wonder ful objects in tho way of architectural drawiegs by Mr J. W. Robinson, of Dunedin. One purports to represent the Provincial Hotel and Mr Jimiesoji's drapery establishment at the corner of Manse and Stafford streets; tho other an enormous block of buildings bearing tho inscription "Kcw Zealand Fruit Preserving Company." The structures depicted coitainly do not txlat at present, and I should not Imagine that thoy aro likely to, according to tho plans ; at all events, if thny are ever erected it is fervently to bo hoped that the porsons frequenting their neighborhood and that the skies abovo them will never be anything liko those delineated by the artist, Tho skies aro simply appalling,.while the human beings aro iu such postures as a, Marionette* troupo would never approaoh. I came upon Profossor von Haast Inspecting the<:e plciuics carefully through a pair of glasses. Ho did not seem pirticulwly mrprbed at tho buildißgs, b«t ho asked mo if' tho people of Dunedin were really liko those moduli we saw before us. (To be continued, J