THE GLASGOW EXHIBITION

New Zealand Times, Volume LXXI, Issue 4449, 31 August 1901, Page 4 (Supplement)

THE GLASGOW EXHIBITION

A TRIUMPH OP HUMAN SKILL. Anyone who attempts to give a description of the leading features of the Glasgow Exhibition must, writes a cor_ respondent, begin with a preface disclaiming all intentions of describing in minute detail all the riches of mind and hand which it contains. One would, need to be myriad-minded in order to describe the industrial processes, the rhythm of the machinery, and the unnumbered products of men's skill which have found a temporary home in it. The technically-trained man, acquainted with some special part of the industry, will understand the section connected with his own trade, and a report compiled by various experts, each relying on his own knowledge, would give the most accurate account of the exhibition. Hut it would lack the unity which the single mind weaves into all that it does, and it would weary most people, for it would be overloaded with detail. The common man, if he is not devoid of imagination, will see the glory of the spectacle and find in it a witness to the Titanic power of the human mind. There is perhaps nothing very novel in the exhibition, but the ordinary man or the poet ill-informed about the greatest achievements in industry, sees them grouped under one roof, or at least under one patch of sky, and he wonders whether there is any limit to invention. A GREAT DISPLAY OF MACHINERY. This feeling is nourished most of all by the machinery section. It is generally admitted that there has never been such a great display of machinery in this country. The expert naturally examines everything in detail, and notes the new developments and improvements, but the untrained man is content with a general survey, and he is perhaps uplifted by his glimpse of unknown powers. This section contains a great variety of machines, as well as some products of the industries iu which complicated machinery is used. The recent achievements in gas engines, the triumphs of electrical science, the huge machinery of Avar, have all a place here. In addition there are exhibitions of industrial processes such as hat making and the manufacture of confections. These practical exhibitions are watched generally with great interest, and their value, as a means of social education, is considerable. Most people will be surprised to find how long a process is required to produce an insignificant article. The logical mind will press still further back, an 4 will think of the machinery used in these processes and of the .skill shown in inventing it, and, as a result of its observations, it will look with new interest and respect upon the tiniest and commonest things. The advance in the art or printing is shown by the "Glasgow meraid s" exmoit, a huge and perfectly equipped summing up in itself many functions ana processes. The industries most closely associated with Glasgow are represented by exhibits of colossal plates and shafts ot steel, and by the other articles manufetured in the great steel works of Lanarkshire. The i'arkhead Forge, one of the busiest Vulcan shops in tne country, has a lino exhibit of armour plate tor warships. Some of the railway companies have sent superb examples of their engines, and side by side with them are electric oars exhibited by Dick, Ker and Company. Much progress has been recently made in artistic iron work. The Saracen Foundry, Glasgow, has a magnificent pavilion built' of iron, and finely ornamented, and under its canopy there are many exhibits of the same class of work, showing how iron rivals wood and stone as a means of expressing an artistic and fanciful mind. The Machinery Hall, when full, looks very imposing, and everything has been so well arranged that all the marvel attaching to a great workshop remains, though the sordid features are absent. Looking down from the long galleries which run across the hall, one feels that the house and its contents are excellently, matched, and that both reveal the untameabio might of human skill. THE SHIPPING MODELS. In the great avenue which leads from the Machinery Hall to qhe Industrial Hall there is a noble collection of ship and yacht models. They are the visible record of the progress made since tao beginning of the Clyde trade, and they show how victorious the march of miud has been in this department. What a contrast there is between the, earlier ships sent out from the Clyde and Tyneside yards and the stately vessels winch carry the reputation of these places into every part of the world. Some poets, enamoured of tlhe old white-winged ships, lament that romance has disappeared, but these newer vessels, with their exquisite lines and great bulk, are full of poetry. There is one model of the famous East Indiaman class, so heavy in outline and altogether so unlike a great swan (to use a favourite simile) that one is inclined to think that the steamships excel those old-world carriers of costly merchandise. ’ The great shipping lines, such as the Anchor Line, the Castle Line, the P. and O. Line, have all models on exhibition. These are the great carriers of the world, despising distance and the perils of the sea, plying like shuttles in a loom, binding scattered nations into one commonwealth but quite near them axe several warships, equally graceful, but less peaceful in intent. All these models indicate how closely beauty and utility may be linked, and they exhibit an almost marvellous skill in the difficult art of reproducing tilings in miniature. A MODEL OF UTOPIA. All the machinery exhibits have not found a homo in the great hall. Outside, just under the shadow of the University, there is a whole street of booths and pavilions, where various engineering companies exhibit their machinery at woirk. Here there are printing machines at work, the great linotype ones, which, have revolutionised printing, exhibitions of gas-making by new methods, the latest appliances for heating. The man of a mechanical turn of mind will examine these outlying parte with as much interest as the central hall itself, but the ordinary man* will perhaps feel most interest in the model cottages erected by Lever Brothers, the owners of Port Sunlight. Nearly everyone knows something about that wonderful enterprise, but the cottages and the model of Port Sunlight which occupy a large part of the upper flat will increase the interest in this splendid experiment. The cottages are double ones. They are built of brick, and they have wooden and plaster eaves. The small windows full of little panes, and the wide kitchen, remind one of the country. Each cottage contains four or five rooms, and they are provided with a fine bath and scullery. ,

Tie model of Port Sunlight itself is like some Utopia. In one corner there are the works where the famous goap is made; in the centre there is a church, and near it there is a school, and farther off there are the homes of the workpeople and open grounds for play. Great captains of industry of the kind so common in the JFest of Scotland ought to

pause long before this model, for it represents the dream of labour. A REMINDER OF WAR. There is one pathetic reminder of war in the groxznds, an hospital and hospital tents similar to those used in South Africa. They tell far better than words or pictures tho story of wounds and death connected with war. Imagination easily fills np the details of the scone suggested by the bare walls and the low truckle beds. The hospital is a tin shed, with doors at both ends. Tho beds stand at right angles to the wall, and the whole aspect of tho place is severe, as if in tho elemental struggle with death all grace should be forgotten, yet everything is clean and orderly. The tents suggest the same sad reflections. These exhibits will stir painful recollections, hut they form a needed commentary on man’s pride, set beside the great human triumphs in the machinery.