AUCKLAND.

Otago Witness, Issue 1155, 17 January 1874, Page 3

AUCKLAND.

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.) The week has been one of pleasure and holiday making. First in importance stand the races, which have, however, not been so successful, owing to the purchase of the two large studs, which thus broke down competition and destroyed interest in the events. I have already explained how it is that we have two days' racing in December and three more at the New Year. This will not happen again, as the two clubs have amalgamated. The winners have been already reported to you by telegraph, but I don't know if you have heard the true history of Kakapo's disqualification. Redwood sold him with seven others to Perkins for £2500. The day before the race, a protest was entered against Kakapo, on the ground that he was more than three years old, having been foaled in July, while the ages date, according to Auckland rule, from August. There was very great disinclination to enforce the rule, and a strong effort made to have Kakapo admitted, on the ground that in Christchurch, and, I believe, in Dunedin, the ages date from July, but the effort was useless. The affair threatened to be very disagreeable at one time, but Mr Redwood has since taken the responsibility entirely on himself and paid Mr Perkins £250 to cancel the sale. The race course was well attended on both days, not less than 4000 being present on Friday. The railway did a great traffic with very imperfect appliances. There are no stations. The platforms are uncovered footpaths, and a little office of 6ft. by Bft. has to accommodate the ticket seller and the public at the Auckland terminus. _At Newmarket, a carriage was converted into a temporary office, and the booksellers in Auckland were also supplied with tickets for Bale. The trains ran as often, and were as crowded, as their means permitted, but there are|only three locomotives, of which one had to be employed between Ellerslie and Onehunga. Altogether, the best was done that the circumstances permitted, and though the arrangements were very imperfect the public were good humoured, and ready to make fair allowance for shortcomings. The line has not yet been taken ever by the Government, but is being worked by Brogden and Sons under some arrangement with the General Government to secure the former against loss. The Mechanics' Institute opened its exhibition on Friday evening, and it is really a creditable collection of works of art and industry. The large hall and the reading room are devoted to the exhibition, and to them has been added an equally large temporary building. Entering from the hall door, the eye is at once struck with the excellent display of statuary and bronzes around the room, while the walls are crowded with oil paintings, water colours, crayons, and sketches, many of them of great merit and by old masters. It was hoped to add to them theSßeymlds and Salvator Rosa belonging to Mr Harwood, and which he keeps screwed up, each in its own box under hisshop-counter. ButMr Harwood declined to exhibit them on this occasion, though he has promised to do so on the next. Their abseuce is much regretted. The Reynolds is a beautiful picture *»f a child caressing a small spaniel. The Salvator Rosa is a mountain gorge, in which bandits or soldiers are in ambush. Both paintings have been exhibited in Melbourne, and are well known there. Returning to the exhibition, I cannot attempt in the space of an ordinary letter to desiribe the contents inanydetail. Very beautiful and costly objects from India, China, and all parts of the Eastern world, are sent by various gentlemen, and make a brilliant and interesting display. With tables thus filled, with walls covered with paintings, with statuary and bronzes at each corner and in every niche, and with the very handsome fountains in full play, the coup d'ceil in the large hall is striking and sure to be attractive. From the hall the visitor enters the South Sea Island Room — a large room, of which the tables are closely rilled with curiosities and native productions, and the walls hung with characteristic photographs of the scenery and people. This room is the gem of the Exhibition, nothing like it has ever been seen in these Colonies, nor I think anywhere else. It represents eight months' exploration among almost unknown islands by Mr Woods, in his yacht the Jessie Niccoll. Mr Woods brought with him from England a skilful photographer, and it may give you the best idea of the value of this rare collection to hear that it has been made in islands stretching away to 10 degrees north of the Line, and covering nearly 2000 miles of longitude. The Fijian group — the one with which we are best acquainted in New Zealand — is totally unrepresented in the collection, Mr Woods having lived there for some time, and there made his collection, which he has since presented to the British Museum. He intends also sending to the Museum the one now kindly lent for exhibition. There are some beautiful specimens of Native work in mats and garments, with the looms on which they are made. The difference in the character and quality of those coming from islands inhabited by the Malay or long-haired, and the Negro or woolly-headed, Natives, is perceptible. Some of the work of the former is not only elegant in design, but" singularly finegin texture. The collection of stone implements and weapons is unusually large and curious. So also ia that of the fibres and of the plants from which they are obtained. TortoiseBhell, pearl shell, and articles made from them, abound. The mats are not to be aur-

passed for variety, fineness, and design. The fcappa cloth is brilliantly coloured, and the patterns are tasteful. The idols are grotesque in the extreme ; but the richest and most interesting display is in the photoI graphs, representing not only the scenery of the various islands, but enabling us to see at a glance the marked variety in the races by which they are inhabited. Passing from the collection, which everyone does with reluctance, the next room is filled with photographs of Alpine scenery and travel, large, and beautifully executed. There are also various views of the Whangapoua Saw Millsvery pretty as views of scenery, and haviog the additional interest derived from the interminable lawsuits in which they have been the central point. The telegraph is also at work in this room, and the process explained to visitors. From the Photographic room we pass into the new building in which machinery of various kinds is exhibited in motion. There is a fine collection of working models of steam engines, and some beautiful valveless donkey engines by Fraser and Tinne at once catch the eye. The steam engine by which the whole are worked was lent by Messrs Fraser and Tinne, who have done much to make this portion of the Exhi ■ bition a success. There are some very interesting specimens of machinery for punching and cutting iron by hydraulic power. These powerful machines are mere toys to look at, and take up little space. They afford a wonderful contrast to the well-known monster imported by Government, and which was at the time the theme of general ridicule as obsolete and useless. The models of boats and of ships on the stocks are in this room. Cne of them is a model of the missionary schooner, with auxiliary steam power, now being built to replace the Southern Cross. Another is the model of a very handsome yacht for Mr Street of Dunedin. This yacht is being built by Weymouth, and its lines promise great speed, though the draught of water, 7-Jft , seems considerable for her size. There are many articles in this and the adjoining rooms contributed by local manufac'urers, but it is in that department the Exhibition is most weak. Got together at so short a notice, and with an eye rather to the profit to be obtained |for the purposes of the Institute, than the instruction to be derived rom an Exhibition, this, the first attempt in Auckland, may be safely pronounced a great success. It is sure to increase in public favour from day to day, and I should not be surprised if it were kept open a month instead of the ten days first proposed. Nor (should I be surprised to find it the precursor of an exhibition on a larger scale, with greater means, and longer time for preparaI tion, and a larger committee engaged. ■ The experience now being gained will t*en be useful, and we may hope for a betj tec exhibition of the Colonial products in wkich the present is markedly deficient. The position of Auckland, its facilities for communication with other Provinces, and its connection with the Pacific Islands, render it admirably suited for such an exhibition, 1 and the only difficulty before us is the building;, of which there is none at present suitable for the purpose.