NEW ZEALAND AND SOUTH SEAS EXHIBITION.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 18928, 31 July 1923, Page 4

NEW ZEALAND AND SOUTH SEAS EXHIBITION.

PREPARATIONS PROGRESSING PRELIMINARY TRADE MEETINGS. FOOD TRADERS ADD £IOSO. Two more of tho sectional ineetings of business, men being Held to discuss ways and means of carrying through the 192526 Exhibition project were held in the board room of the Otago Employers’ Association yesterday morning. To tho first of these tho interim executive summoned representative butchers, grocers, bakers, pastrycooks, fruiterers, confectioners, and restuuranteurs. There were about 20 present, and it appeared that the hour was an awkward ohe for moat of the trades concerned. The Mayor (Mr H. L. Taploy) presided, and explained that through' tho good offices of the Employers’ Association representatives' of the above-mentioned trades had been invited to meet some of the Provisional Committee. Ho said that in the Exhibition project the first essential was money, and that was what they had to concentrate upon. They had a right to expect that every business firm in the community would subscribe to the Exhibition Company. They had formed a company to provide a guarantee fund of £IOO,OOO. ’lhe articles of association provided that the provisional directors would not proceed’ to allotment till £50,000 had been subrcribed. So far £34.000 had been received, and they must, move on. Tho terms of payment were easy, 2s per share to be paid on application, 2s per share to be called up when the shares were allotted; after that Is a share at intervals of not less than one month. The directors would as fur as possible spread these payments over two years, so that it would be made easy for everybody. This company was not formed for any profit, and any surplus funds over and above the capital cost were to be devoted to charitable objects. They hoped that by good business management (jhe Exhibition would be made a financial success, as others had been, and that at any rate those who had subscribed would have a reasonable chance of having at least tho greater part of their capital returned to them after the Exhibition was over. They wanted the assistance .of all sections of trade. The Exhibition was going to be a benefit to all sections of the comrmtnity not only in Dunedin and Otago alone, but the benefits were going, to be distributed over the whole dominion. It was going to mean a great influx of tourist traffic and trade. Mr Hazlett was £oing to put before them tho morol and sentimental aspect of the matter in order to show that they were justified in supporting this Exhibition Company as liberally as they could. At previous meetings of trade represorutatives they had set up committees to secure subscriptions from others in tho trade, as it was quite impossible for the Provisional Committee to get in touch with tho whole of these. There was no doubt that Monday was a bad morning', especially for bakers and pastrycooks. It was very necessary that they should got this money together at tho earliest possible moment, , because they wanted to get Mr Massey to subsidise this company £ for £, and until they had subscribed at least £50,000 it would be quite useless going .to him. They must help themselves first. Mr Massey was going away to England during tho next few weeks, and it was essential, therefore, that the provisional directors should be in a.position in good time before ho went to send someone up to Wellington to interview him. lie would like to see tho .whole of tile £IOO,OOO found in Dunedin and Otago, and, indeed, it would not bo creditable to us if it were not. Mr E. C. Hazlett said that in his opinion the Exhibition would do Dunedin an immens© amount of good,—{‘‘Hear, heai’. M ) Dunedin was a solid town and financially very sound, but there had been a tendency during the last 10 or 15 years to allow it to drift, to the extent that in the North Island especially it was quite commonly said that Dunedin was going back. We who lived in Dunedin knew that that was ridiculous. Dunedin was not going back, but we were suffering to some extent through not advertising ourselves. If an Exhibition were held hero it would do an immense amount of good in that respect. As an illustration of what frequently happened, he mentioned the case of a company holding agencies for Otago and the same agencies in other provinces. On more than one occasion visitors with whom they wished to get in close touch got as far as Wellington and were told there that there was no need for them to go any further, '? s they could fix up everything for them in Wellington. Tho same kind of thing wag constantly happening. Dunedin was being “talked down’’ in other centres. We were also handicapped by the loss of the regular direct service with Melbourne. An Exhibition would encourage people to come from Melbourne direct again, and that would all help. In addition to money the directors wanted their help and enthusiasm and interest. It was no use leaving it to a few to run the Exhibition. They must have everybody in the community in

MV LI. S. White said be entirely agreed wdh Mr Hazlett as to the need for enthusiasm in the matter. As far as the lyUving" trade was concerned, the provisional directors would get the whole-hearted support of the members. Their secretary was prepared to take tho matter tip and secure support from members of the association within tho next few days. Some people asked what good would tho Exhibition do. If they had no functions of the kind tho « itv would be verv dead. He referred to the Agricultural Show ns an instance of the way in which gatherings and functions assisted the trade of the citv. Our city was the best city in Now Zealand, anil we, ought to boost it. Ho had no doubt this Exhibition would be one of the best ever held in the dominion. Referring to newspaper criticism, tho Mayor said that tho question of site would eventually be in the bands of the people •who ’ put up the money. Whatever site their representatives chose would undoubtedly be in the best interests of the Exhibition. Mr J. Connor, in response to the Mayor’s appeal, indicated that bo would take up £OO shares in the Exhibition Company.— (Applause.) Speaking of Dunedin as 'the “Edinburgh of the South,” he expressed tho view that Dunedin, like Edinburgh, required more push and initiative. The following subscriptions, making -with Mr Connor’s, a total of £IOSO, were notified in the room:—J. G. Laurenson and Son, £100; Mr P. Barling. £250; Mr M‘Adam, £100; Mr F. Tanner, £IOO. Others indicated that they would come to a decision later or refer the matter to their directors for favourable consideration. Tho following gentlemen undertook to canvass the members of the various trades they representedMr G. J. Barton (butchers), Messrs F. J. Campbell and H. 11. S. White (bakers), Mr H. A. Newall (fruiterers), Mr W. M. Roberts (grocers). MOTOR COAL AND CARRYING TRADES.

The second meeting ut 11,30 was representative of carriers and coal merchants, motor garages and the cycle trade. The, Mayor again presided. , and there was an attendance of about 15. ( The Mayor again pointed out the essential importance of finance in this undertaking, and explained the nature of the guarantee required by the Exhibition Company. They hoped next Monday to be in a position to go to allotment, having secured the first £50,000. They would agree with him that they did not want (o go outside Dunedin or Otago for the capital required, lie road a letter from Mr 11. C. Campbell, who was to have been present to speak, expressing his enthusiasm for the project and his regret at being unable to be present. Ho explained the urgency of having preliminaries well advanced before Mr Massey left for the Old Land. Mr C. Todd vigorously urged the necessity of being up and doing. Every delay now might mean great expense in overtime and hurried work at the finish The project was going on. All the work done so far was only preliminary. Tiro shareholders would appoint directors, and they would fix the site. Ho,for one, would most heartily fall in with the majority. They should have the civic pride to make this Exhibition a great success. With the pick of tho whole of Dunedin for shareholders and directors, there would not bo any money thrown away. Those who had travelled knew that this was one of the finest little spots in the earth. An exhibition was a sort of balance sheet of the country and brought us up to date. Many visitors ■who came would bo so impressed that they would settle down here. Any little gum they put into it they would get back probfjbly tenfold. They wanted the world to know what a fine country wo had and to come and settle in it. There was any amount of country in the Otago

Central being opened np by irrigation. _ In conclusion, ho stressed the point that time was the essence of the contract. What they got out of it, depended on the management. Auckland Exhibition was locally managed, and. in spite of a strike, it produced a profit of £21,000. He believed that they would get a dividend of .close upon 20s in the £ out of this Exhibition. Mr J, J. Purdio said he was quite satisfied that the coal merchants would heartily support the Exhibition as something in the boat interests of the community. He himself would have pleasure in subscribing £IOO to the fmid. Mr W. R. Hayward said that the history of this town had been one of alternate cycles' of depression and prosperity.' It seemed to him that now we were almost beginning to languish again. Wo did not talk Dunedin enough, with the residt that in some ways it, was being pushed on one side. The Exhibition would institute a new cycle of prosperity, but it was, of course, going to cost something. Buildings for the Christchurch - Exhibition cost £90.000, and we could not do with less. Similar buildings -would cost much more now, but there would be a larger revenue to meet it, for the population of the country was greater. Mr Todd suggested a neat little advertisement that might be used in taxi-cabs to keep the Exhibition before tho_ public. All shareholders w6uld have a say irt the choice of the permanent directors. Mr IL Divers, undertook to "Ct in touch with the taxi-drivers, Mr Purdio. with the coal merchants, Messrs S. Steadman, F. A. Cook, and A. Wimpenny with the motor garage proprietors, Messrs A. E. Scott, W. A. Justice, and J. S. Little with the cycle trade, and Messrs J. A. Timlin and F. Goodwin with the carrying trade, with a view to securing their financial support.