ST. LOUIS EXPOSITION.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLI, Issue 12602, 17 June 1904, Page 4

ST. LOUIS EXPOSITION.

LETTER FROM MR, DONNE. ' -i

THE NEW ZEALAND EXHIBITS. [BT r .-i:t.EQßAviT.ovrar coheesfoxdent.] WEttiNotON, Thtitsday. ■ Ist a letter received by Sir Joseph Ward, Mr. T. E. Donne, New Zealand Commissioner at St. Louiii, states that the Exposition is admittedly the largest ever held. It is * stupendous undertaking, and embraces exhibits from practically every part of the world. J: The grounds, which are about sis miles from the business centres of St. Louis, cover .cat -area, of 1240 acres. There is an -:' excellent; train service to sad from thegrounds, the faro for any distance being only five cents. On the day on which Mr, Donne wrote (May 13) hundreds of workmen were busy .in each department erecting structures, and stalling ,■ exhibit?. The ' ground* also were in ... very incomplete con- J dition, and it-was, expected that it would be fully the end'of June before everything was in* proper order. "I found,''he writes, ".that s-jjace for New ' Zealand ' had been ," -" reserved in the ; building cf, agriculture, & magnificent structure, covorlng 23 soros. "C was not altogether satisfied that 'New Zea- . .land would get the best repjesentation possible by conSning its' operations it this budding ttlonts, and J.. therefore, ;onferred with the Exposition officials, and ultimately succeeded in securing a splendid site for an additional exhibit in the centra, of the forestry, fish,, and game building, which contains most interesting exhibits, and .' ! t ■ ' tracts large numbers of visitor?. So far, our* exhibits have hot arrived. They are still - on the railway system between San Francisco and St. Louis. Messrs. Spreckks and Co. kindly promised to expedite the transpor- .: tation as much as possible, but I am not very hopeful of getting them for another week, as there is an enormous block of traffic on the lines contiguous to the city of St. Louis. Some of the exhibits from the American- •fl States, I am informed, have been on the railway tracks for over two months. I find that New Zealand is generally very well known among the people I have met in ". America, but known principally in connee- '; tion with its advanced legislation, There ' ,-' is, in my opinion, a splendid field at the Exposition for operating in the direction of bringing the advantages of New Zealand, as a home for settlement and a resort for tourists,. J; \ under the notice of people from ail parts of . ; the world. The exhibit of wool and wool-' . " len goods is exceedingly small, ' and very ; f? disappointing. The same might also be said > of hemp, wheat, oats, barley, etc., whereas; ;&? the exhibits of Indian corn and grasses are '■" .-.•'■. very extensive, and most elaborate. The >. ' New-Zealand exhibit of wool, blankets, ;l H rugs, phormium tehax, cereals, rabbitskins, etc., will, nc doubt, attract considerable ' i attention. There; are ; some magnificent ' ex- 7 hibits of woods, plain and ornamental, com- :)J ing from such famous forest countries, as , Oregon, Tennessee, and Canada. The forest, '■'•-; :fish, and game exhibit of Canada is a very, ■/ < fiao one, and is : immediately opposite the, New Zealand exhibit;, in the same building/A ;' ■','