THE WELLINGTON EXHIBITION

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXIII, Issue 10319, 19 December 1896, Page 1 (Supplement)

THE WELLINGTON EXHIBITION

[BY OUK OWN OOKHMPONDENT.] ! I took a special day to look for tho Auckland i exhibits', and found them with difficulty, ae I the places where the exhibits are manufac- I tared or produced— in a few instances ■ —are nob mentioned in the catalogue. This ( appears to mo a rather serious omission. It . is not sufficient that only ttia mraos oE the exhibitors should be mentioned. Exhibitors I residing in Wellington have no need to j attach their names to tliqir exhibits unless they wish, because they are on the spot and j generally known ; but visitors from outsido 1 provinces or]from the other colonies would ] nob know where the articles are made. 'Clio j Auckland exhibits are comparatively few in , number. Messrs. .Wilson, of' Warkworbh, have an interesting exhibit of their hydraulic i lime and Portland cement, Mr. Craig, of Auckland' and Mahurangi, has a similar | exhibit. Both are excellent, is showing ( the vuluo Qf the material. In Mr. Wilson's ( exhibit there is au architectural pediment , which would have a better effect had it i been larger. It shows, however, the value ; of the exhibit by its well-defined edge and i outline. Mr. (Jraig's exhibit is also very , good of its kind, atid is in every way worthy J of examination. Mr. Craig's pottery works at Avontlale is a source of attraction for those who are interested in the building , trade, in purposes of sanitation, or even surface ornament where durability is desired. It strikes one that exhibitions which are merely intorprovincial, limited to a particular province or district, are simply a mistake. They admit some feeling of jealousy, which should not exist, and the ultimate effect upon trade or business is rather disappointing. The colony and not any particular part of ib is the real industrial arid manufacturing unit; and it is the unit that should set the standard of excellence, and not the fraction of a colony. Archibald Clark and Sons' exhibit of shirt manufacture is one of thejhandsomest cases in the Exhibition. It is important as illustrating a branch of industry capable of great expansion and development. The oxhibitors have brought it bo a high degree of perfection. Hood's " Song of a Shirt" was composed at a time when this industry was in the hands of a class of manufacturers who had no bowels of oompassion for merely operative effort; when the industry itself was not regarded as capable of expansion, and the capital invested in it sought an immediate as well as a profitable return. In this particular instance there is extraordinary variety of both pattern and material; and the industry includes auxiliary skill, which is very profitable to the worker. The division of labour gives a separate work to tho cutter, the seamstress, and the laundry. When the industry, i? established on a large scale it gives a healthy and even lucrative employment. The materials are Bilk—silk and fibre of various kinds, silk and cotton, silk and wool, special fabrics suitable for different climates. The art of design contributes immense variety, and chemistry provides bhe most delicate shades of colour. All these resources are employed to give attractiveness to this case of shirts, pyjamas, and similar goods. There are shirts of tho ordinary kind, shirts frilled and plain, and, as suggested, of great affluence of colour, so used to produce tone and the general effect of good taste. The factory is in Auckland. It has developed this industry to the extent that there are between three hundred and four hundred hands constantly employed. The output is a thousand dozen per month. To accommodate this growth of business I understand that Messrs. Clark and Sons have purchased the site for a new i factory on the Surrey Hills Estate. When , the new factory is in full working order tho greatest possible expansion of the trade will be provided for; bub they will bo ablo to employ at once six hundred hands, and, of , course, to produce double the present outpub. I- askod the representative of tho • exhibitors here (Mr. S. Buttle) whether the business, after giving a fyir .margin of , profit -to' the capital, allowed not merely a. f " living wage", bub a comfortable" living to . the actual workers. The answer to this 3 question appeared to me in the highest i degree satisfactory, It was in effect as 3 follows:—The skilled branches of the trade, i such as the cutters and laundresses, could , always command the best wages, and this i scale of wages was sufficient to give to those f engaged in the business nob only a " living . wage" bub a lucrative employment, according ! to skill or special aptitude. For the ordinary 3 workers, such as sompstresses, the rate has ) been regarded by those interested as satis--0 factory, so much so that no instance of a r female leaving (except bo get married) has '/ been known, and employment in the factory 3 is sought with eagerness. There has been ( no complaint heard; moreover the employii ment is one which gives additional reward e to adaptability by the greater amount ot , pay which the practised worker can secure, 1 This case exhibited by Archibald Clark and . Sons is ft genuine object of iuteretfb and i attractiveness to those who visit the ICxhis bition.

TUB EXHIBITION OP ART. • The pictures are not by any means representative of the best art production of the colony. The best are lent by the Danedin Public Art Gallery and Lord Glasgow. If the Exhibition were a colonial one these, of course, would bo in their proper place. They are, however, vary attractive. Only a few possess any high artistic merit. These are the works of Royal Academicians, such as Sidney Cooper, Seymour Lucas, Stanhope Forbes, E. A. Waterlow. I would not exclude frgm this category the pieces of local artists lent by His Excellency the Governor and paintod within the colony, such as Payton, of Auckland (" Nikau Palms"), and "The Stream in Waikato" and "Mount Egmont." This last is really an admirable picture. There are other tine local picturos, such as" The Torrent of the Ouira Gorgo," by Vander Velden. Then there is " Tho Changing of Pastures," by.l. M. Nairn (also lent by His Excellency the Governor),which is admirable for its local colour. The exhibits in tho name of Barraud, of whioh there are a good many, possess various points of excellence as well as of defect, but are all meritorious in the sense of being the fruit j of an elegant and accomplished leisure. The same may be said of the Kichardsons, Williams, and Gores, and others. Here, again, ib must be obsorvod that the catalogue does nob give sufficient information of the pictures. " The Last Supper," by Sir James Thornhill, for instance, which has the look of an old—wo might say of a very "old masber" indeed. At the same time, though the exhibition of pictures is not large, it is as a whole good. There is some painting' on glass, and obhor good decorative work; some wood earring, and any number of' photographs of great merit. They are not, however, of such importance as to justify me in occupying your space at any further length.