WELLINGTON EXHIBITION.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1681, 18 May 1904, Page 59

WELLINGTON EXHIBITION.

"TO BE OR NOT TO BE.” A meeting of the Executive Committee of the New Zealand! Industrial Exhibition was held on Wednesday. Mr T. Ballin'O’er (vice 1 - president) occupied the chair, vice Mi- Peter Hutson (president), who was indisposed. There were present:—Messrs W. Allan, J. P. Luke, W. A. Evans, T. G. Maearthy, J. B. Haroourt. R. E. Bannister and Professor Easterfield. A letter was received from the secretary of the Harbour Board! stating that the Board had received the application for the extension of the leas© for the reclaimed section at the foot o.f Taranaki street, and had decided after discussion that the lease could not be extended beyond March 31st, 1905. This was owing to the desire of the Board to lease the (sections thereafter as compensation for the lapse of the Hunter street endowments. Mr Samuel Brown wrote stating that he had heard of the spedial meeting called to discuss the question cf postponing the Exhibition. On a previous occasion he had been immediately concerned in ascertaining the beet time of the year for holding an exhibition, and! to that end examined many of the hotel registers in Wellington These had shown that the hotels commenced to fill up about the middle of November, and the number of persons travelling fell off at the end of January. lie was of opinion that it would be a bad financial investment to open the Exhibition as late as January Ist, and advocated postponing the movement for twelve months in preference to taking such a Bt< The chairman stated that Mr Brandon the executive’s solicitor, had been away in Sydney, and that Mr Hislop had! been acting in his stead. The latter has sent the draft lease (with one or two alterations) to the City Solicitor, but up to yesterday morning Mr Hislop had beard nothing in reply. Mr J. P. Luke stated that lie had called upon Mr O’Shea (the City Solicitor), and he had informed him that he (Mr O’Shea) 'had asked Mr Eislop for a copy of the constitution of• the Wellington Industrial Association (now accepted as lessees) to indicate the nature of the organisation and legal ytatu® of that body. Up to last Wednesday morn-

ing, he (Mr O’Shea.) had ieceived no answer to his request. The City Solicitor must get the information he desired before he could complete the deed. Light was shed upon the situation by the Rev W. A. Evans, who stated that he had 1 had a- conversation by telephone with Mr O’Shea on the subject that morning, a'nd had been informed that the completed draft lease would be forwarded to Messrs Brandon and! Hislop that afternoon. It was understood that the amended lease would come before the Public Works Committee of the City Council on Monday, the 16th inst., and its fate would! then he doceided. The chairman remarked that in connection with letters sent to- the Harbour Board and City Council asking for ah extension of the lease in case of postponement, the Board had replied! refusing the request, and the City Council had moved that the letter be “ received.” In view of the possibility of holding the Exhibition on -the 'Harbour 1 Board’s land alone he had gone into figures-, and ascertained that 36,306 square feet- of space would be available apart from tho machinery hall, which was in any case to be erected thereon. Mr J- P. Luke pointed out that with tho class of buildings they proposed to erect —of corrugated iron—goods would deteriorate through the action of salt spray, which would find its way through the crevices. The section was not only subject to spray, but big seas broke over* during both summer and winter. He thought it was inadvisable to think of holding an exhibition there. Mr It. E. Bannister said he had had a conversation with the Mayor, who- had informed him -that Mr Shortt, the Council’s overseer at the Town Hall, had stated that the building would be ready t-o hand over to the Council by December Ist, and that as soon as it was formally opened it would be handed over to the Exhibition Executive. It was absurd to discuss the question of postponement at this stage, when the arrangements with the City Council were all but completed, and a day or two would see the deed of lease perfected. There would be less time, and more work, hut what did that matter? It was waste of time to talk cf postponement. They should see the solicitor, and meet again next Tuesday, when h*» hoped affairs would be found to be iii a satisfactory condition for holding the Exhibition. There had been a good deal of money spent, too, in initial expenses—some £2OO, he believed —and that should weigh against the idea of postponement.- He moved that the- committee should meet again on Wednesday next to decide what was to. he done. This was seconded by Professor Easter-fie-ld, and -carried 1 . The chairman stated that so far the initial expenditure incurred amounted to £B4. The secret-ary had received up salary yet, a resolution had fixed it. It was part of the £B4 shown, and he thought it should he paid 1 . Mr Bannister: Well, we have a banking account-. Mr T. G. Maoarthy: I’m not so- sure of that. He said he had interviewed several commercial men asking them to a-ct as guarantors, and these had been secured. He did not think they had a right t 0 trench upon these funds', which were guaranteed on the basis of the first -arrangement. He did not- care to touch them personally. He was going to be extremely careful, and was not disposed to operate on t-lie account. Ultimately -it was decided that this matter he postponed until the next meeting—to be held! to-day, Wednesday.