THE PROPOSED EXHIBITION IN AUCKLAND.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXIV, Issue 7862, 3 February 1887, Page 6

THE PROPOSED EXHIBITION IN AUCKLAND.

SPEECH OF SIR JULIUS VOGEL. Yesterday afternoon, at the invitation of the Auckland Chamber of Commoroo, Sir Julius Vogel addressed a large number of its members on tho question of the Exhibition which it is proposed to hold in Auckland in ISOO. Mr. Lamb (Chairman of the Chamber) presided, and among those present were Messrs. J. McCosh Clark, J. M. Dargaville (M.H.R.), E. Mitchelson (M.H.R.), Graves Alckin, Lodder, Buchanan, C. C. McMillan, A. H. Nathan, W. R. Waddel, S. Vaile, Speight, E. Waymouth, W. Tate, J. Bretton, F. Irelaud, &c.

The Chairman, in opening the proceedings, stated that the Council of the Chamber had sent a request to Sir Julius Vogel to meet them and give them some information respecting the marine exhibition expected to take place in tho year 1890. It was hardly necessary for him to state that Auckland was proverbially a place of considerable importance in shipping matters, their harbour being the bast in the Southern hemisphere. A marine exhibition would be the means of bringing the advantages we possessed before the world, and would be of considerable importance to the community here. Tho largest number ot crafts in the colony wore owned in Auokland, and therefore it would become them to do their best to forward the object which Sir Julius would expound to them in more detail. Sir Julius was a man of original ideas, and when he set about a thing he went iuto it thoroughly, and generally succeeded with the enterprises he took in hand. He then asked Sir Julius to address the meeting.

Sir J olios Vookl said he hoped he was not addressing the meeting on any false I pretences. He hoped it would be dourly understood that he was not speaking on behalf of the Government. The circumstances whioh led to his coming there were that in conversation with several gentlemen on the subject to which the chairman referred, and who took great interest in it, he was asked to speak upon the subject to the Chamber of Commerce before he returned South. He must apologise for having given them so short a notice, but lie had only a few hours to stay in Auckland. They would understand that he was giving no pledge on the part of the Government, as when this thing came to be realised there might be another Government, but they would be able to consider after tho remarks he was about to make to thorn the value which they would attach to them. It happened that in IS9O there would be three events of very momentous importance to the colony. The first ho alluded to was tho fact that on the 21st of January, 1890, the colony would hive passed to the 50th anniversary of the date of its proclamation. Probably before that time had arrived, or about that time, tho Panama canal would be so far finished that its success would be a matter about which no doubt could be outertained. It would probably be open for traffic, partly at least, in 2£ years. Another matter which would hava an essential influence upon the future of the colonywas that about that time the junction railway between Wellington and Auokland would be completed, and they thought that these three great events should have a worthy celebration, by such an exhibition as they were there to discuss. Perhaps lie might be excused if he made a tew remarks to them on the importance of the Panama Canal, and he hoped he was not siylng too much when he said that its importance was hardly sufficiently realised in .New Zealand. It would, in his opinion, create a new world, and entirely alter the conditions of the towns on the Pacific Ocean, such r.s had already been done in the countries bordering the Atlantic. Ho thought if they had observed how, during the last three or four years, there had been such a rush tc obtain possession or control of islands in the Pacific, they might have some Idea of the opinion entertained by astute men as to the changes which would follow the completion of the Panama Canal, and of the enormously increased value these would posBess when that canal was opened out to the coasts of the Noith and South of Australia and of New Zealand. There would bo coaling stations, accumulations of vessels and of fleets .of all countries of the world. It had often been said that ■ New Zealand was to he the Great Britain of the South, and he hoped ho should not be looked upon an speaking disparagingly whoa he said it would not become the Great Britain of the South, simpiy on account of Its place on the map, but it must be by the energy and enterprise of her inhabitants. One thing of great importance to New Zealand was to make herself known, iu view of the increased interest which would be taken after the opening of the Panama Canal. He knew of nothing which could more thoroughly celebrate the events to which he had referred, and which would bring New Zealand more prominently before the world than this proposed International and Colonial Exhibition. He knew something about tho manner in which the first Exhibition was started, and ha must remark that the»e institutions continued to be more rather than less popular. The difficulty really was to obtain a place for exhibitions, so continually were they being undertaken by other countries, and though it seemed a long time to look forward to the date 1890, he thought it would be none too long if they wished to secure a good Exhibition, and that j amount of sympathy which would be necessary to make it a success. The Exhibitions at Melbourne and Sydney were very satisfactory, so much bo that they were very shortly to be repeated. With regard to the Inter national Exhibition of New Zealand he thought there would be a special character given to it by calling it an International Colonial Maritime Exhibition. The future of the colony must depend very much upon its maritime character. A distinguishing feature of the colony was its enormous seaboard, which would become of vastly moro importance in its relations to other countries through the new means of communication afforded by the canal to which he had so often referred. But while they gave the name of a maritime exhibition to that which they proposed holding, as a means of giving it special interest, it would not exclude aDy other articles for exhibition. He had seen some exhibitions which had special names given to them, especially the Fisheries Exhibition, but no articles were excluded from them. Supposing they had a Maritime Exhibition, they could imagine that anything could be brought indirectly into maritime use, and therefore might have a place in the Exhibition. Supposing, to take an extreme case, they mentioned agricultural implements, such implements were frequently of use to the people who " went down to the sea in ships," so they would not in reality curtail the comprehensiveness of the Exhibition by giving it a special character, but they might make it more productive in that manner than they could do by any other plan : they would get the practical appliances in connection with maritime pursuits of all kinds. He suggested that they should obtain specimens of the canoes of the South Sea islanders, which would give a good idea of primitive ideas of naval structure before science rendered such service to their practice, which was shown in nothing more strongly than in the science of navigating the waters. It would be very interesting to ascertain the course of naval architecture in connection with the development from these primitive canoes, and contrast them with the splendid results obtained by the older world. It would also be very interesting to have all the various appliances connected with fishing pursuits, which he considered were of very great importance to the colony. The fishing industry of Canada produced three million sterling, as much as the wool industry at present produced in thi3 colony. That industry here remained almost untouched up to the present time. But what be considered most important of all was that they would be able to invite the presence of vessels into their waters to try their speed in the beautiful harbour they possessed here. That would be to his mind a great feature of the inhibition. They would be able to invito vessels of every size and kind—sailing vessels and steamers—to try their merits on the waters of the Waitemata. They might by iuat means make a variation which would tie most attractive to persons who might be wearied with ordinary exhibitions, if such trials of speed could be fixed for every day, and could be witnessed by those who visited the Exhibition by day. They had another advantage in Auckland in being able to provide economical amusements, as he found that great difficulty had been experienced in exhibitions in other parts of the colony in providing such varied amusements as were req.ttired» and whioh ere always liable to

fail, without great expense in engagements. They would lie able to afford an amusement which he believed would be very attractive in the day time, by drives in the open air in the summer evenings; and in the summer evenings by providing music and the electric light, and perhaps fireworks. He thought thoy would be able to run the Exhibition cheaply. He thought the Exhibition would have a very good educational effect in the colony. It was of great importance to them to establish well the art and practice of boat and shipbuilding. Now, such an exhibition could not fail to bring to them in the colony a great number of visitors, who would receive the impression that it would afford a fine field for their enterprise. He believed they would have no lack of visitors to keep open the Exhibition for four months, with those who came from a distance and those who lived in the oolony. Now, they might say, " How -are you going to carry it out." That was a question which appeared to him required consideration, but ho suggested as one plan, though there might be others, he thought it would be best to carry it on independently of Government control, by means of a Royal Commission, the same as in other countries of the world, where they had been very suo cessful. Then came the question of means. It appeared to him that the question of expenditure would very much depend on the cost of management and upon the responsibility thrown upon those who had charge of it. It would be one of those things which might swallow up a great amount of money, but which, by careful and judicious management, might prove selfsupporting, or oven yield a return. He thought, tor example, that a very large return might bo obtained by the various means of making money which thora were in connection with these exhibitions, and that very little would be required from those who had charge of the Exhibition. Ho noticed that £'26,000 had been paid for places purchased for showing articles at a recent Exhibition, and the universal plan was to charge for space, which would yield them a iarge return. He suggested a subscribed guarantee fund of £25,000, and he did not think there would be any difficulty in getting the Government to guarantee a similar amount. £ for £. If that were obtained they would bo in a position ti go on with the work, and he repeated his opinion that if the Kxhibition were well managed the guarantors would not bo called upon to pay anything, or at any rate only to a very small extent. llf they decided to go on, he did not I think there was much time to spare. They would have to get a Royal Commission, and enlist the sympathies of other parts of the world. Even if they were not called upon for immediate action he did not think they could allow tho months of the present year to elapse without taking action in tho matter. They should tix the time for the Exhibition as promptly as possible, Thev might perhaps say the last month of 18S9, and the first three months of IS9O. and then they would not hare tho competition of any of the countries of I'Juropa where these were winter months. They would probably secure the field for themselves, which would enable them to count upon the support of all the other countries in the world.

Tho Chairman then invited those present to make what remarks they liked, or ask questions. He invited Mr. Clark to speak.

Mr. Clark remarked that tho question was one which involved a large amount of work and responsibility, and though he was quit# of opinion that it was worth a full and favourable consideration, they could do nothing moro that afternoon than to express their thanks to Sir Julius Vogel for the trouble he had taken in expounding the matter to them ; and to say that if they could see their way to acting on the suggestions he had thrown out, thoy would do so. He did not himself fe9l, though he had conversed with Sir Julius on the matter, that he was in a position to form a decided opinion on the subject. He thought the matter should be fully considered by a committee of the Chamber. , He moved a vote of thanks to Sir Julius Vogel for tho interesting matter ho had brought beforo them, and the suggestions he had made, which might prove of great value to this community and to the colouy at large. The Chairman seconded the motion, and said he felt exceedingly obliged to Sir Julius for the common sense way in which he had put the matter before them. It was not one of those things upon which they could just jump to a conclusion at once, but ho agreed with Mr. Clark that there was a good deal in it, and that they should not allow the matter to drop. The Chamber itself was not sufficient, and they would have to get the general public t.> help them. They would have to get a large committee appointed to initiate the matter, and they might rlo that without further delay.

Mr. Dakgavjllk, who was asked by the chairman, who subsequently invited others, to speak, expressed his pleasure at the interesting speech of Sir Julius Vogel, He had heard nothing beforo respecting the Exhibition, and ho had felt doubt as to whether any practicable scheme could bo formed ; but that addres shad largely removed his douhte, and if the scheme could bo carried out he thought it specially devolved upon the city of Auckland to undertake it. One specially good effect which he thought it might have would be in induoing the people of tho islands of the Paoifio to look to New Zealand as' the place of their headquarters — their emporium. If they could get them to prefer Auckland to Sydney, it would be a most important advantage. He the thought proposals which had been made by Sir Julius did not receive at the time the attention they deserved, and the question might well be revive!. They knew that Sir Julius Vogel's schemes were generally practical though sometimes expensive (laughter), but in this case it did not appear that it need bo so, and he would give it all the assistance in his power.

Mr. Mitchelson, being called upon, expressed concurrence with the views expressed by Mr. Ciark. Ho thought the matter was one of great importance to the Interests of Aucklaud and the colony, lie was satisfied that if Auckland would meet the suggestions of Sir Julius Vogel, enormous benefits would accrue, and that it would causo a large amount of money to be expended in tho place. He was prepared to do all in his power to assist the Chamber in bringing about the desired result, and he thanked Sir Julius for the able manner in which he had expressed his views, and for the trouble he had taken to give them that information.

THE TRADE OF THE ISLANDS. The ChaiuMan said he quite agreed that it was a great mistake that Sir Julius Vogel's proposals with regard to the Pacific Islands had not met with greater support, and had been allowed to drop through. Their trade was increasing with the Islands, the steamer on the la«t voyage to Fiji taking more goods than ever before, and bringing back a larger cargo.

Mr. John Rkid said ho could not agree that the Islands had been neglected, as was shown by the increased trade of the steamer which received a Government subsidy. Hut lie would give all the assistance he could in promoting the Exhibition.

Mr. Morrison said he had always endeavoured to foster the Island trade, and he was sorry.Sir Julius had not received better support from the peoplo of Auckland. Ho thought that trade was of the greatest importance to Auokland. The gold mining industry was of the greatest importance, and the specimen of machinery which would be attracted by the Exhibition would be such as they could not get thero by any other means. With regard to the races they neod not have much expense over them, they might employ the totalisator. (Laughter.)

Mr. Garrick, M.H.R., Christchurch, expressed his approval of the schemo, and said he should be very glad to see it prove successful, and he would use any influence he might have to promote it, even though it might confer far greater benefit upon Auckland than on any other port of the colony. He believed the Exhibition would be a great success wherever held, and it had his full sympathy.

Mr. Macmillan expressed his approval and sympathy with the proposals of Sir Julius Vogel, and remarked that they would have a hard taßk in competing with a free port like Sydney when they bad to pay such heavy duties, But they raised the money that way for Government purposes, and he did not see how that difficulty could be got over.

Mr. Gbaves Axckin expressed himself very much obliged to Sir J alius Vogol for his address, expressed in such a clear and businesslike manner. It clearly lay with themselves to say whether they would take the matter in hand or not. They would be to blame as business men if they could not bring the matter into a practical shape. The Council of the Chamber would have to invite the co-opera-tion of the outside public, and form a large committee. Sir Julius had shown them what substantial benefits were likely to result, sad it would be their fault if it was

not brought to a successful issue. With reference to the Islands scheme, he thought Auckland had acted injudioioualy in throwing cold water upon it, and if all those interested here would take up the matter, it might encourage Sir Julius to bring the matter again before the Government, and perhaps Auckland could still be made the centre of the Island trade.

Mr. Donald said for 10 years he had done all in his power to cultivate the trade of the Islands with Auckland, not for bis own benefit, but to foster the trade for the country. The Janet Nicoll is showing the Islanders the number of articles they could supply from here, which it was thought thoy could not. Thero was no doubt: muoh could be done if a full trial were made, and it was shown what could be producod and sent from New Zealand.

The vote of thanks to Sir Julius Vogel was then heartily passed. Mr. Harper wished to bring before the attention of Sir Julius Vogel the matter of foreign vessels trading in New Zealand waters, but was informed that he was out of order. a

Sir Jolios Vogel then returned thanks for the vote of thanks aooorded to him. He remarked that when ho spoke he had said that he was only speaking for himself, and not expressing the opinion of tho Government, but at the same time he might mentiou that the matter of the Exhibition in 1890 had been discussed by the members of the Government, who had agreed that with the celebration of the trunk railway there should be an International Exhibition in Auckland. He might state that although he could not speak authoritatively on the details. Hints of this had been given, but Auckland was a very coy maiden, and did not like to put herself forward. Thoy had now had a second hint, and if they still declined it might bo very creditable to their modesty, but he did not think it would be very creditable to their energy. Dunedin had undertaken an exhibition without any Government aid, and he thought some plan could bo devisod in which this district aould carry out an exhibition, and they knew that tho Govornment were friendly to it. Now that the Island question had crept up, and there were some who said they had made a mistake in not going into the matter long since. It was first proposed in 1574 that there should be a chartered company for trading with the Islands, aud if that bad been carried out at the time New Zealand would have absorbed the control of tho trade. It was proposed to make the ma'tor one of a large business, and then Great Britain would have kept the control of the islands. Now a great opportunity had passed away from British control. Then, again, in 1881, another attempt was made, a bill was introduced into the House, but it was so coldly received by those supposed to be most interested that it did not pass its second reading, and fell through. In tho meantime the great nations of the earth had been almost fighting and spending millions of their money to obtain possession of some of these islands. Germany, every month, was going in for fresh annexations, and sending out steamers with a view of getting possession of the trade of ibe Pacific. They might take up the question now, but they could not get the advantage from it which they could in former times. He related the classical story of the Sybilline books which were refused when first offered, because of the high price, but when all were burnt excepting one, that was taken at a price beyond what the whole might have been secured for. That was an illustration of thoir treatment of the Islands question. They would have a greater cost in getting the trade of a small part of the islands than they might have had the whole for formerly. They might have regulated the currency of the Pacific, their notes have been as good as sovereigns or shillings. But still they should got as much influence) as they could there, and he hoped they would make every effort to do so.

At the conclusion of his speech Sir Jo LI as moved a vote of thanks to the chairman, which was carried, and the meeting then terminated.