THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. THURSDAY, AUGUST SO, 1908. AN EMPIRE EXHIBITION.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 13833, 20 August 1908, Page 4

THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. THURSDAY, AUGUST SO, 1908. AN EMPIRE EXHIBITION.

The proposal to make the colonial exhibits at the Franco-British Exhibition the basis of a British Empire Exhibition of a more permanent character is one which should have the hearty support of our colonial Governments, as it has of the Exhibition Commissioners. There can be no doubt that the FrancoBritish Exhibition has been highly beneficial to the oversea dominions by extending popular knowledge of them and their produce, not only among the hundreds of thousands of visitors, but among the millions who read of it in newspapers and magazines, and thus had their attention directed to our displays. We have long been of opinion that no better method of " advertising" the Dominion could be adopted than to show the people of the United Kingdom what we produce, and the conditions upon which we produce. At the High Commissioner's Office some slight attempt has been made to display samples of our produce, but there is all the difference in the world between specimens of gum, timber, and wool laid out in show cases, and exhibits of gum and gumdigging, timber and timber-getting, wool and sheep-farming, as they would be found in an up-to-date and modern exhibition, furnished with "living-picture" attachments. It is not possible for New Zealand alone to arrange a sufficiently attractive and diversified exhibition to form a standing attraction in London; but it ought to be very easy for the combined self-govern-ing colonies to do so, even without the assistance of India and the Crown colonies, and still easier if these countries joined in making a really Imperial Exhibition. For from tea-growing in Ceylon, sugarplanting in Fiji, and rubber-gather-ing in British West Africa, to wheatgrowing in Canada, timber-getting in British Columbia and New Zealand, and wine-making in South Africa, there would be nothing used in England or produce known to Englishmen which would not then bo covered. Whale-hunting, rabbiting, cattle-droving, shepherding, pioneering, and more settled farming, would all ' come within their legitimate sphere : while our New Zealand rugs, Australian iron. Canadian cottons, and other manufactured goods, from every British colony, would show how far and fast we are travelling upon the industrial road. Such an Exhibition could display in the most attractive manner our produce and our manufactures and our foodstuffs, our j local specialties, and our fruits in | due season. Its restaurants and tea-rooms could supply Imperial foodstuffs, and would thus familiarise visitors with New Zealand mutton and butter, Canadian bread and beef, Tasmanian apples, South African and Australian wines. There would be no limit to its attractiveness, and equally no limit to its value as an advertisement.

The various colonial Governments cannot do better if this matter comes officially before them than to instruct their representatives to draw up a working scheme for the establishment and maintenance of a permanent British Empire Exhibition. Such an institution ought to be very nearly self-supporting, but it would be well worth the while of every colony to agree to make good its quota of any deficit. For there might easily be a deficit for a number of years, owing to the expenditure which would be. necessary in order to make the Exhibition as customary a resort of visitors to London as Westminster Abbey or the Tower. And that would be the purpose of any effective management. Every British colony has land to be settled and goods to be sold, wants immigrants and wants customers, seeks to increase its population and its output, its revenue and its trade: This is common to everyone of the self-govern-ing colonies, from Canada, the oldest, to the Orange River Colony, the youngest; and we are all beginning to understand that this can only be effected by systematic and intelligent advertising. There are many -ways of advertising, all good. We must advertise" in the British provincial towns, through the British country districts ;. but, particularly, we must advertise in London, and that in such a fashion as to attract the attention not so much of the mere Londoner as of the visitor to London. For London is becoming more and more the Mecca of the English-speaking race. Not only from the furthermost corners of the United Kingdom do loaded trains pour their passengers hourly into the dozen stations of the great metropolis; but from the furthermost corners of the earth, from the uttermost ports of the oceans, loaded liners carry passengers by the thousand and tens of thousand to the same ultimate. destination. We

know what- a constant stream flows between Auckland and London, and if we multiply that by the thousands of places in the world, which are as much interested in the Imperial City as Auckland is, we have an idea of the .immense number of pilgrims to our modern Mecca There should be such a British Empire Exhibition, permanently established in London, as would compel the attention of every excursionist of the United Kingdom and of every tourist from overseas. This would so greatly increase the market for our colonial produce, and the numbers of British immigrants to colonies having inducements to offer, as would repay many times over the comparatively small cost to any colony of keeping such an Exhibition open.