TWO WINDOWS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21601, 23 March 1932, Page 8

TWO WINDOWS

WHY THEY DRAW CROWDS NEW ZEALAND INDUSTRIES. (From Our Own Correspondent.) LONDON, February 4. Seekers after novelty are tremendously interested in a window display at New Zealand House, 415 Strand, where there is a very attractive layout of New Zealand sheep skins, dyed, printed, and patterned. Each skin shown is a perfect specimen—there are no flaws or blemishes on the pelt to interfere with the pattern (IC 'Sonic of the slcins have been made to look as if once they had belonged to the reptile species. The sheep pelts take on quite well the appearance of snakes, lizards, and crocodiles (skins that are still fashionable for many purposes), and so varied are the colourings that one instantly thinks of the peculiar properties of the chameleon. Persian designs are well carried out and there are many others less ambitious but equally pleasing. A useful feature of the display is that it shows a number of the effective uses to which the skins may be put. To name a few of the exhibits; bound books, boxes for cigarettes, photo frames, travelling slippers, cases for folding clocks, purses, handbags, cushions, and so on, in every possible colour and tone. The show is a public record of the fact that New Zealand has the opportunity of providing material for the development of a highly successful industry while it is still fashionable to use coloured leathers. OUR HONEY—THE SECOND WINDOW.

The other window, too, is an artistic triumph, a development of what has previously been done in the showing of Ini' perial Bee. The display is on an ambitious scale, and the finished show is so good that the “Move on'’ order came from the police when the blinds were first raised. There is life about the grouping of the Imperial Bee dolls, and there is life more real in the sections where the figures are electrically propelled into action. The big figure is always compelling, with his quaint expression, his moving lips, his amusing eyebrows. The centre background is built in the form of an interior of a hive, a jar of Imperial Bee honey standing in each section. The enthroned Queen Bee. in another group, is the centre of an admiring bevy of ballet-dressed-bees, careering round her dais. Both windows are indeed a triumph, and they are compelling. The illuminated showing is on till 10 p.m., and all the time pedestrians stand and smile at the bees. Very good business! Considering the limited space available, the New Zealand windows give remarkably varied displays, each industry having a turn in each cycle.