CENTENNIAL EXHIBITION

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23491, 4 May 1938, Page 17

CENTENNIAL EXHIBITION

ENVOY FOR SOUTH ISLAND AN EXTENSIVE ITINERARY “As reports from some districts of the South Island indicate that there is still some lack of appreciation of the publicity value of the Centennial - Exhibition for various provinces, the directors of the Exhibition Company feel that it will be helpful to send a representative through the island, said the chairman, Mr T. C. A. Hislop. “ For this necessary purpose the directors have been fortunate in the engagement of Mr J. R. Simp- - son, a South Islander. He spent some years of his business life in ■ his birthplace, Dunedin, and he has a helpful knowledge of all districts of the island. At the time of the New Zealand and South Seas Exhibition he was vice-president of the Wellington Chamber of Commerce, and he was mainly concerned in the organising work for. the combined court of the Wellington, Nelson, Hawke’s Bay and Taranaki Provinces at Dunedin. The success of this court was largely due to his tireless energy and enthusiasm.

“ Many people,” continued Mr Hislop, “ are still a little hazy about the range of the Exhibition. The huge block of buildings includes provision for provincial courts, a New Zealand manufacturers’ section, a motor section, and engineering section, and a general exhibits section. Apart from the provincial courts, a large afea of floor space has been booked, and other areas are under consideration by exhibitors who have decided to take space but have not yet figured the extent of accommodation that they will need. “ The purpose of a provincial court is not the display of manufactures, for which there is proper scope elsewhere in the Exhibition, but to give a worthy indication of the natural and developed assets of a province, its tourist wealth, its sporting attractions, its facilities for the establishment of industries or the further development of farming, or mining and so on, according to conditions in each case. Each court would be also equipped for the issue of helpful information to visitors. The ideal, of course, is to have a court as a kind of miniature of the province. OTHER COUNTRIES “ The prospects are bright for outstanding displays by Great Britain, Australia and Canada,” concluded Mr Hislop. “There is more than a possibility that these countries will have their own distinctive buildings in the foreground of the main block.”