That Exhibition.

Free Lance, Volume XV, Issue 817, 25 February 1916, Page 13

That Exhibition.

Seen with a Woman's Eyes

JOHN Bull holds the floor of the Town Hall these days, and John Bull is exhibiting his goods, and he has laid them out so neatly and in such decent order than even the true blue Briton is tempted to wonder if he has been taking a lesson from his cousin, John, the Chinee. "The Empire for Ever," we cry, as we lay out for public inspection those goods which we manufacture in New Zealand—and other goods which are manufactured in less-known portions of the Empire—England, for instance. John Bull in England is insular; John Bull in New Zealand is parochial. But then, one must live, and, though the boots we manufacture in New Zealand cannot hope to be as cheap as the Home article, because we pay such huge wages, still, the leather is excellent, and the finished boot is stout and sensible. What more can one expect? When we draw attention to the fact that New "Zealand boots, made to order, are hideously expensive and lack the finish of the imported article, we are reminded with pride of the wages which are paid to the boothand—and of the shape of our individual' feet. However, the boots are water-tight —as a rule —and those which are . supplied to the Army are beyond reproach. With our own eyes have we seen one pair which a young soldier wore during four months'. training at Trentharr then in Egypt for a few days, then on for weeks. And now they are back in New Zealand, walking about with as stout a sole as ever —and that is a pretty good advertisement for the Army boot. The odour of the Empire is quite perceptible on these hot afternoons, and the wily electrical firms are showing most excellent devices for toning it down when it gets a little too obstreperous. We should like to see fans of this kind in every home and public huilding. We should also like to see an electrical drinking fountain at every street corner and in every school —one of those which spray upwards four or five inches, and for which no cup is re-

quired. The child puts its lips to the water and does not touch any part of the structure. We saw such a fountain at the exhibition and we approved. . . The average old-fashioned filter wag a microbe incubator —but we looked vaiiily through the exhibition for one of the modern, hygienic kind —and we know as a positive fact that Britain makes very excellent ones. We liked the captured trench mortar exceedingly. We did not complain because it was not made within the Empire. AVe know our own are much more useful, and that they do much better work. We cannot imagine how our grandmothers existed without sewing machines, electric irons, electric kettles, and gas stoves, and we consider that every husband should realise that an extension telephone is a necessity now. We observe that it is possible to get drunk on New Zealand wines, but we also observe that we bestow upon it a French name sometimes. Of this we approve, for we love the French, and with all our hearts we wish that we of the Empire could take unto ourselves some of the noble attributes of the French people. We gather that it is possible to clothe one's self and wash ones self and dry one's self, to eat, to drink and to be merry, to be comfortable, to be useful, and to be ornamental, and to do it all with material made withm the Empire. We like to see the work which girls— carpenters m embryo—are accomplishing m the Technical School, and we prophesy that a day is coming, when it will no longer be considered necessary for girls with no taste for music to inmet hours of misery upon themselves and their belongings. Instead, they may discover they have other tastes, and it is not unlikely that some of them will learn to be good carpenters. We liked the scissors, but we wish we knew how to keep them sharp. We admire the sentiments expressed by the lady speakers, and we particularly admire the energy of one Mistress MacVicar, whose energy is remarkable. We like the exhibition. We wish it were larger, and that more time had been spent m preparing for it. We are convinced that the Empire is self-support-ing. Our confidence in the future is even more firmly established than before. We hope that. Germa. 1, Austrian, and Turkish goods are boycotted for ever. We also hope for a huge poll tax on all such aliens in the future. We came away —and outside we met a sample of the Empire's greatest product, a tiny John Bu.l in an English peL'ambulator, watched by its mother, an Englishwoman—child of its father, an Englishman. And we murmured a line of the British Anthem, "God Save Our King." Mabel.