A REPROOF.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XXIII, Issue 529, 31 December 1889, Page 4

A REPROOF.

[Otago Daily Tvmes.~\ Before Mr Deakin and Mr Langridge leave * the colony we deaireito deprecate the exoeß- ' sive self-satisfaction that haa beendisplaying itself occasionally of late in oonneotion witb onr Exhibition, and especially wonld we deprecate the invidious comparisons that are constantly being drawn with the Melbourne Centennial. It is not unnatural that the national 'self -respect which* the Exhibition has eo benefioially raised 'should here and there at a moment of excitement like this topple over into vaingloriousues8 { but if onr yonng lions would roar a little less magnificently we should feel far more . confident that they would ..have strength lef b for further efforts to improve the posi« ■tion of the, colony. , The. commercial situa* s_ tion around us, whilst full of hope, does not -.^•tSrarrarit boasting, and if the confidence pro auc^t_\Jtqr_the E_:hibitio_>i3 to degenerate into presurnption its. success -wUI be half spoiled. Coloniafprotection needr-to^be cultivated, but the "blow" that some speakers » have let off implies a doubfc of the reality of their pretensions on behalf of New Zealand, and a. desire to flourish our merits unduly. The Exhibition far transcends the general expectation, and no one need be ashamed to own that he is proud of it ; but there is a tendenoy to talk as if there had never heen such an Exhibition before in the . world atid nevor would be again. Those who have taken part in its management have reason to be gratified with the compli ments which our visitors pay them, but it ib not a little ungracious to turn these compliments into weapons "for attacking their Exhibition, whioh -was a great national success on a larger scale than we can aspire to. It must not be forgotten that whilst t economy was essential to the management ,o£ an undertaking oarried out at private expense for the praotioal objeot of showing that the depression had ended, the Victorian Government in the flush of prosperity could afford to spend a quarter of a million from their surpluses to celebrate the centenary of Australia. And if we come to analyse suoh a remark as Mr Deakin made to the effect .;: that it 'was not a Dunedin, nor an Otago, . but ja .New Zealand Exhibition, we shall perceive' that our Victorian visitors do hot at bottom rate ua quite so highly as we may fairly, olaim. , Nor do they do entire . justice to onr aims when they tell ua (hat the Exhibition grew from a private' enterprise into a national undertaking, for no Exhibition was ever promoted leßs for private and more honestly for patriot id purposes. By all V 'means let na maintain the olaimß of the Exhibition to tjje fullest appreciation, and re« joioe right patriotioally in its success. This w no occasion, lor the niceties of criticism, -; ; and we may be permitted to take a generous " view of ourselves and our doings in conneo- • . tion with bur jubilee festival. But it should not be at the expense of the neighbours who -. nave oontnjbnted ao liberally to our suaoee_, ; Nor should we forget that the merits of Nen 'Zealand proolaim themselves sufficiently to vi»torß withont our distracting them with a .•:.'„ -