MONDAY, DECEMBER 14, 1896. THE EXHIBITION.

New Zealand Times, Volume LVIX, Issue 3002, 14 December 1896, Page 2

MONDAY, DECEMBER 14, 1896. THE EXHIBITION.

Tiiebk is littlo doubt that the Exhibition is in many ways a success. It is a success iu itself, as no one can doubt who realises the extent, variety and finished character of the things exhibited. In many linos he would ses nothing better in London, Paris or New York. The magnificent display astonishes everyone who reflects tlut nearly every article has been produced in the Colony. Stories aro constantly reaching us of tho amazed incredulity of strangers who are told for the first time that they are walking through a show of cdlonially-mado articles. Prom this point of view the success of tho Exhibition- is great. In another and a not less important aspect the success is Hot less. Tho Exhibition, thanks to the great prudence and enterprise of the management, is financially a success. We point as an evidence to the attendance. Tho big show ou the reclaimed ground has “ caught onthe public come to be amused. They like the lounge, and they take the greatest interest in the exhibits. It is not the first time that a cheap Exhibition baa been made to pay ih this Colony. The secret was discovered in Christchurch, whore tho industrial folk have a genius for managing these things. Now that Wellington is showing that there is nothing In the air of the Southern city specially favourable to exhibitions, there seems every reason to believe that these reviews of she industrial life of the people oan be undertaken at short Internals, with profit pecuniarily as well as otherwise. Politics are reviewed by the population once iu three years j why should not industries be reviewed as often ?

There is a, two-fold object before all industrial exhibitions. They are each not only a stock-taking, as it has been called, but an advertisement. The first Is more for inside use, the second more for outside show;. A people ought not only to want to know how it is getting on, but to bo also aniicus to let the rest of the world know of its advancement, and be aware of its suitability for investment, or trade, or residence, or travel, or all four. We are not quite sure that this second object is sufficiently well understood in New Zealand. The public is without doubt apathetic about industrial and international exhibitions elsewhere. There was a very big one at Chicago recently, and still more recently a Very little one at Hobart. Tho public of X3w Zealand cared just as much about the one as they did about the other. New Zealand, moreover, has had only one international exhibition in all hor history, and it was a small affair; nothing like it ought, from the advertising point of View, to have been. On the Australian Continent there is a different public, a public that takes the keenest interest in tho advertising department of exhibitions, as well as in the stocktaking. The continent has had many international exhibitions. Verylgoigeous affairs they all were, without exception, and one and all they did well the work of advertising. It may be said, not improbably, .that the rapid recovery after the banking crash was facilitated greatly by the happy results of industrial exhibitions. It is quite true that the recovery was due to the greatness and elasticity of the Continental resources. But it is also true that the thorough knowledge of these resources, spread widely abroad, by the many international exhibitions, helped the resources by keeping up tho public credit. New South Wales has already, spout .£500,000 in this way, half of it in representation at other exhibitions, the balance on her own magnificent international show, known as the Garden _ Palace Exposition. That colony is about to spend a quarter of a million more upon another big show in tho last year of the century. Of this sum the Government expects to recover half from tho admissions and the sale of materials, which are set down -respectively at £75,000 and £50,000. They are, therefore, risking £250,000 in order not to lose more than £125,000. Evidently they think that anything between the latter sum and a quarter of a million will be worth tho advertisement. This is the general opinion after half a million has gone in the same sort of advertising, and by the end of the century they will have spent threequarters of a million in twenty years in advertising their colony, its products, resources, manufactures and places of Interest, The spirit is enterprising and excellent. If anything like it existed in New Zealand, this Colony would bo largely represented at the Sydney Exhibition of 1899. The subject ought to be mooted, and actively as well las exhaustively discussed at once. If this is not done while the present Exhibition is open the opportunity will be lost. At present the opportunity is with us, and it is a splendid one. The greater part of the exhibits ought to be secured for display abroad.