THE EXHIBITION

Evening Star, Issue 23100, 28 October 1938, Page 7

THE EXHIBITION

AMUSEMENTS PARK TO COST £IOO,OOO MANY NEW DEVICES DIRECTOR OF COMPANY GIVES DETAILS -Details of the proposed amusements park at the New Zealand Centennial Exhibition were given by Mr Henry Seff, director of the English company which has been negotiating with the exhibition management for the concessionary rights to erect and run the park. He said that it would cost £IOO,OOO to £160,000, and would contain. many devices that had never before been seen in the Southern Hemisphere. Mr Seff said that, as his company, specialists in all kinds of tubular steel amusement devices, had obtained the concession from the exhibition management, he intended to connect with the Monterey, returning to England from Sydney, as be came out, by air. He expected to reach Loudon on November ♦ 13. He was returning to England to conclude arrangements for many of the amusements, and to make ready for the shipment and assembly of the devices. Early next year he would send out a shipment of 500 to 750 tons of tubular steEl, as well as a large quantity of machinery, vehicles, engines, and fittings of all kinds, and automatic games for installation at the exhibition. A constructional engineer and one or two other specialists would also come out to superintend the erection of the plant. He himself would return- to New Zealand in February, and would stay until after the close of the exhibition. PARK NAMED “PLAYLAND.” The park would be called Playland. It would cover about 10 acres, in adtion to one acre devoted to a “ kiddies’ playland,” where children could amuse themselves in safety upon miniature reproductions of the various devices. “It is'intended to spend between £IOO,OOO and £150,000 to make the park" at the centennial celebrations comparable with the best in the world,” he said. “It will he unique in that it will be the first in the world constructed principally of tubular steel. Every device will be the very latest of its kind, and many will never before have been seen in this part of the • world.” It. would contain thrills and novelties to appeal to all ages and tastes. It would include a “super-cyclone” coaster ride 400 ft Jong, of the switchback or mountain railway type; speed boats and miniature racing motor cars; the latest type of “dodgem” cars,’ a crazy house - similar to that at. the Glasgow exhibition; a big wheel some 50ft high; a “ ghost train,” which _ carried passengers through mysterious tunnels where all. sorts of strange adventures were’ Experienced; a “ strataship,’” in which all the sensations of flying could be . obtained; and a host of other devices, the intriguing .names of some of which were “Jack and Jill,” Fun House, Loop the Loop, Lambeth Walk, and Flying Scooters. All would be driven by /electricity. MIDGET TOWN, While in England he hoped to complete a‘contract with a'large troupe of midgets,-none more than 3ft high, to come:'td .the, exhibition,' in which-case a Midget Town r woulcl -he erected in the Amusement Park. ■ Another feature would be a miniature or children’s railway, running right.round the park and carrying passengers. It would be a working model of a real railway system, reproduced on a small scale. Mr Self said that not only were the steel devices quicker to erect and dismantle, but their strength and safety surpassed that of any other form of construction. This system of building had been used successfully in celebrations in London during the Jubilee and Coronation, and in Australia at the sesqtiicentennial celebrations and in connection with the preparations for the Boy Scouts’ jamboree to be held this summer in Sydney. .Mr Seff mentioned that for many years he had been engaged in the amusements business. It was a family profession. He was also organiser of the British amusement trade fair, and another reason for his return to England was to arrange for this year’s fair. At these fairs the very latest sideshow and amusement devices were displayed, and it was possible to Exchange' ideas and to keep in touch with the most recent developments in entertainment.