NEW ZEALAND AT WEMBLEY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 18964, 11 March 1925, Page 8

NEW ZEALAND AT WEMBLEY.

In view of the decision that New Zealand shall again participate in the Empire Exhibition, to be resumed this year, a candid comment by an influential English newspaper on the Dominion's exhibit last year is of striking interest. It occurs in the Observer of a late date in January. "One of the common experiences of the makers and decorators of the many pavilions," runs the comment, "was that what may be called a museum is much less effective for any purpose than a moving picture. Sightseers want something active or something beautiful. They delighted, for example, in the little active diorama of the Australian sheep farm and of the C.P.R. in being. New Zealand, to give one example, certainly lost its. opportunity in not fully realising the psychology of the public. Its pavilion, though 'luxuriously appointed,' as house agents say, and expensively equipped, gave no real picture of a country that is one of the gems of the Empire, sccnically as well as economically. Suspended carcases of Christcluirch lamb less incline the British householder to buy New Zealand meat than would, for example, a reproduction of that wonder of the world, Rotorua, with its geysers and lakes and hills of volcanic dust." This is putting the case for a more effective New Zealand exhibit very broadly, of course ; but as a piece of constructive criticism it is sound. Unless the interest of the public is captured, an exhibit, no matter how costly and elaborate, must be pronounced a failure. The Dominion has superlative material- for attractive, even arresting, tableaux. The Observer's reference to Rotorua hits the nail on the head. Rotorua is the world's best spa, abounding in interest and value. Yet its presentation at Wembley was lifeless when it should have been compelling. Its merits as a health resort had no impressive advertisement, nothing constraining the seeker for health to say, "I must go there." No effort was made to put pamphlets on Rotorua into the hands of the British medical profession. There was 110 exhibit of the Dominion's mineral waters —a strange oversight for a country with table waters second to none. Lacks such as these should be supplied when again the New Zealand pavilion is opened. But of particular importance is the suggestion of displays that are active and beautiful. Why should not one of this sort reveal j our thermal district's wonders of lake j and geyser and all its magic spec- I tacle of coloured pool and fumarole? 1 As for scenic beauty that lends itself j to 'representation bv tableau, sub- j jects are abundant: the Huka Falls, j the Aratiatia Rapids, Waitomo's glow-worm cave, the Wanganui River's "drop scene," the Franz Josef glacier and our snow-capped peaks, the solemn glories of Manapouri and Tc Anau's fiords, Milford j Sound's majestic grandeur and the ravishing beauty that makes the Clinton and the Arthur valleys together "the finest walk in the world," and such bush loveliness as dwells in the Buller gorges and along Hongi's track and round about the Whangaroa harbour personal taste will add others. There is a hope that something may be done to make these attractions live before Wembley's sightseers. It is a hope to be diligently fulfilled.