The Sydney Exhibition.

Otago Witness, Issue 1461, 15 November 1879, Page 9

The Sydney Exhibition.

Not the least remarkable exhibit of the earlier days of the "Greater Britain" is the first modest folio number of the Ota£o News, thought out, m&nußcripted, composed, »nd published on the 13th of December, 1849. It bears the cheering motto, " There's pippins and cheese to come," and its modest introductory preface to its readers runs thus : — " Through its influence (the Press) we hope for a good time coming, when the labourer will be worthy of his hire, and the wealthy and the great will go hand in hand with all that iB great and noble." A brighter or more loyal aspiration never heralded the first issue of a j mrnal of news, and its recorder has lived to see no mean part of it realised.

A valuable collection is shown under class 306 by Mr W. OolenHo, F.L 8., Napier. It comprises a New Testament printed in Maori in New Zealand in 1837, of which edition 5000 copies wereprinted j it was the first New Testament printed in the Southern Hemisphere. There ia also a prayer printed in Maori in 1839.

Mr James Porter, of theWaiotabi, Thimes, shows a glass decanter containing a puszie. The exhibit ('ike tbe fly In amber) is neither rich nor rare ; the tantalising wonder is "how the devil it got there J" Mr A. Milne, of Waneanni, sends a sheet of glass on wfcicb. be h»a engraved the figures of a number of racehorses, including the English cracks, Blink Bonny and Vengeance, also the Colonial wonder Briseie, who won the Victorian Derby, the Melbourne Cup, and the O.ks. The engraving is artistic and the equine figures spiritedly rendered. An interesting cariosity is exhibited hj Mr A. R. Hielop, of Wellington, It is a lapesfcry picture representicg a courteous fencghfe handing a lady to a dais, with various eceuic accessories in the foreground, described as a work executed by Mary Queen . of Scots.

This, says the catalogue, " has been handed from generation to generation in the Hamilton family, by 'one of whom it was given, 38 yearß ago, to Mr Hugh M'Lean, who was murdered in Australia. It was sold by hie brother, the Rev. D. M'Lean, to the exhibitor." There is ample room afforded by this . exhibit for the fancies of those who sympathise with the fair but erring queen. How many bitter hours of imprisonment may this harmless piece of antiquated handiwork have been the means of lightening !

The various models in the court receive a large share of attention, particularly the two exquisite pieces of perfect workmanship the Rocomahana and Wakatipu steamers, which always have about them an admiring audience of youngsters. In the same shape there is nothing so beautiful in the building. The Austrian court shows a small steamer built in that country, but ifc is of.no importance by the side of those named. There are also model sections of the Mataura and Otira j a plaster model of Lyttelton Harbour and worka ; and several others. The model of a churn is there also, but on the merits of it lam not able to descant. I mentioned in a previous letter a small contribution of kauri-gam ornaments, and now have to notice a more valuable and larger collection from a Mr La Bonde, a decorative painter, once of New Zealand. 16 comprises kaurigum ornaments auch as brooches, rings, earrings, watch pendant*, and other nick-nacks, all well worked and pretty. The gum is also' utilised for the illustration of ferns, which are imbedded by come process I do not; understand, and form curious pieces of ornamental work. I mast also mention a' handsome case of jade, or greenstone, ornaments, some of them benutif ally set in gold. The exhibit comes from MrT. R. Proctor, of Christchurch, jeweller and lapidary. A large picture by Miss Bridget Henry, of Kensington, Danedin, ia u!k and worsted work, has considerable merit, and is as effective »s anything of the kind in the courts. Another work in the like material — subject. "The Huguenots"— by Mrs H. Powell, of Oamaru, is well worth attention. Mr H. Buroside's model of the Hon. R. Campbell's residence, Otekaike, fiatU rmny admirers. There is aa air of comfort and cosiness about the establishment suggestive of good things within. Class 220. — Cornices, Brackets, Picturb

Fjsames, &c.

This class is be«t represented in Gnthrie and Larnaoh's furniture as to c amices', and in the various excellent pictures now adorn.- j ing the court, as to frames. There'are a few special exhibits that I may mention; they j are :— A frame in' cones of .New Zealand <■ growth, tastefully arranged by Mr Samuel Child, of Chiistchurch ; a sample frame from ' Mr Thomas Myers, . of Wellington, of very ! chaste design and make ; and two cone pic- jj tare frames from Miss Kste Salmon, also of: Wellington, both ornamental and pretty. ' There are ale o two doors of native woods — ; one from GreenSeld and Stewart,' and thei other from. Stewart and Co. Wellington, j

Class 260.— Papbk, &c.

la class 427, exhibit 420 (W. Colenso, Napier), there is a specimen of paper made; f:om phormium teimx before IS3B, which' shows that early attention was given toWhat must some day become a profitable industry, and a meaas of utilising an. article now much negkoted, but of varied application. lam not far wrong in setting down the annaal value of imported paper to your Colony at £25,000, and seeing that a largo portion of that sum is spent on the coarser kirids of paper, for which your grasses are so cmi« neutly fitted, hopes may be entertained that it will not be long before Otago establishes a manufactory with the determination to extinguish'the import altogether. The specimens forwarded by Mr Edward M'Glaehan leave little to be desired, and I cannot put away the thought that if you had in your midst just a soupgro of American enterprise, paper mills would be doing their work before the Colony grew a year older. ThaMatauraPaper Mill Company (Limited) abo show good brownandgrey wrapping paper, made chiefly from native grasses; and the Invercargill Paper- bag Factory exhibit paper bags made from brown and grey paper manufactured by them from the same. In class 306 there is an exhibit of -an account of phormium tenax by J. Murray, F.S.A., F.L.S., printed on paper made from its fibre in 1838. The material is surprisingly good, and the print would not discredit a publishing house of to day. It is interesting to note how warmly the claims of this product have been advocated by the thoughtful from the earliest days of sectlemenc.

Classes 600, 601.— Food.

In the cheese department, for which New Zealand has a well-earned reputation, we have but three samples from Danedin, one being from Patsrson and M'Leod, and the others from Mr William Kirkland, of East Taieri, and Mr Roberts M'ladoe, of Lake Wai port Christchurch contributes samples through the hands of Messrs E. H. B%nka, C. B. Candy, and J. A Graham ; Nelson from Charles Knight ; Invercargill from Blackwood and Company (maker, Allen Gait) ; and New Plymouth by Mr Junes Wade, who sends a Cheddar and a Glo'ater, 31 and 32 lbs, which Wool a prize at the Canterbury show.

I have been through the cellar, which is in the basement floor, and, I can add, deli ciously cooL Up to the timo of my visit your show was the largest from auy of the Colonies, and in this depart meat New Zealand ought to hold its own. As a rale, the New South Wales brews are not first-class. The biers are all new. and pass almost direct from the v^t to the consumer's stomach. That much cf it is abominably doctored, a .<! highly delete iotu, none but: the retailers will deny ; ooe thing at le*9t is certain — thatis,thaUn« tippletea^dby thie judges *t the Exhibition does not frequently find its unadulterated wuy to public eoosamption. Mr Collis informs me that the jedges are about to meet ia judgment on the samples now before the court

A Hiraalayau lily (giganteuoi) measuring 12 feet iv height, and with, a stem nearly 11 inches in utrcu inference, and with 171 bloaaomgj, yellowish white spotted with purple ia thy throAfc, tl>e flawecs all expanded afe.djae time, is reported *t Bagahoc, EqgitauL