THE EXHIBITION-ANOTHER VIEW

Otago Witness, Issue 2762, 20 February 1907, Page 80

THE EXHIBITION -ANOTHER VIEW

By Growleb,

In spite of the heat and drought, Christ* church is looking wonderfuly fresh and bright this summer, thanks to its perennial and ever-beautiful river and its numerous wells and runnels of water. Except in a nor-' wester, the dust is not more in evidence than usual. The lawns and gardens have suffered to some extent, while the hills and surrounding country have many fire-swept areas to show; bufc the continuous supply of deep-seated artesian water keeps the town comparatively cool. At present, much of its life, especially ft 6 young life, centres in the Exhibition, which, particularly at night, absorbs a large part of the public attention. Like others who have a. few days to spare on the way north or south-, "Growler" visited the Exhibition, and " did " the big show — not once nor twice, but several times. Did he growl? Welf, it is a. dry show. Nothing but softt drinks to be had, not even the mild and refreshing shandy ; though there are extensive and aggravating displays of beers and wines, spirits in barrels with taps quite within Grange, and many other things to tempt and harass tho thirsty wanderer. But seats aro few, and noises of vulgar; hawkers and of gramophones are many. The ventilation is bad, and when the air is hot outside and the sun pours on the metal roof the air within becomes saltry and oppressive, and life is a burden. One useful and ever-to-be-commended institution exists just within the gates — a creche or resting-place for babies, where they may be left by weary mothers with! the cartainty that they will be well cared for. It is impossible but that some babies will object to their abandonment, even for a few hours, by their natural guardians-, and wails and cries occasionally testify to the temporary unhappiness of some of tho inmates. But on the whole they are quite content, and their mothers can enjoy a respite of a few hours without being s burden to themselves and a nuisance to others. The approaches and grounds on the river-front are well kept, the green lawna and bright parterres of flowers testifying to the lavish use of water. Inside is the usual array of corridors of great length, with cross pa.s°ages and courts, which, interesting at first sight from their novelty, are apt to become wearisome from their extent. The general effect of the long vistas is spoiled by the number of small .stalls and booths, which give the effect of a second-rate arcade — an effect which is inorea<iecl by the efforts of their occupants to secure custom from the passers by. To traverse these corridors in their entirety involves a ' walk of several 1 miles, but in the great extent of their length and breadth one sees little, if any, more than is to be seen, in the shop windows, except where special courts exhibit the manufactures and products of other colonies or of counties. Two features are prominent in connection with the management of tho whole Exhibition. One is that it is a Gpvcrnment show ; the other— despite all the claptrap about its educational value and the promotion of industry and art— is that the main object is to make as much money aa possible, co as to reduce the inevitable deficit. Both quite legitimate features, but the latter much too prominent to be agreeable. The Government exhibits are good, as, indeed, they might well be, considering that the strength of the departments interested has been put into them and public money has been, freely spent m advertising them. The Agricultural Department has a most interesting and admirable set of exhibits. All the etap'e agricultural products of the country are shown, from wool, hides, and meats, down to chickens and bees; and | from grain and flax to fruit-tree blights. Outside these are plots on which fodder ! plants of all kinds are grown under various conditions. All this part juatidea itsetf. The Tourist Court is also good; pictures, stags' heads, trout, everything that appeals to the sportsman and globe-trotter, are here in plenty. Here also are the most comfortable couches and lounges, where weary mothers, who have dragged themselves and their perspiring babies— (why are mosfe babies overclad)— through tho long, corridors, come to enjoy a little rest. They, bless the Tourist Department, not for 'ts enterprise in advertising the colony, bufc for the luxurious scats and well-stuffec» .cushions which it provides Similarly, the Railway Department makca a gocd exnibitt of rolling stock and machinery; but He most popular part is the ordinary tram o« care in which many wanderers find a rest and cat their lunches surreptitiously. When the Exhibition opened there was found to be a great dearth aof seats, bufc chains were prowded at 2d each Nofe much, you say; but if used several timesr, and added to the numerous other email sums inveigled out of the pockets of visitors it helped to swell the total very considerably. Indeed, the whole show seemj to be a device for drawing money out ofi the pocket. It wae stated, or pretended*; that its main object was to educate the people and encourage native industries. This is a secondary consideration with the> managemont. Anything educative, unless. it be a Government exhibit, is shoved to one side or put out of sight, unless iv " paye,' either directly or indirectly. That' seems to be the criterion of the whole.n Thus as we are- rambling along we discern a label — only visible from one side, — projecting a little at the foot of a dingy, unadorned stair, which informs the passer-by, who may happen to be very much on thfli look-out, that the Natural History exhibits. are to he found upstairs. We ascend into? a bare, almost unfurnished upper storey, where the labours of various museum curators and people interested in science are etowed away. The dust lies prettjß thick here, while attendants are not visible anywhere. The exhibits are excellent ; spm«l

•f ' the best things from the Otago and Christchurch Museums are shown, but the public does not know they are there, and the management does not care- It might lie said that such exhibits should have been kept in their respective museums; but of bourse this or a similar objection would apply to much of what is shown in other parts; and if they were not wanted,, why were they invited to be shown? On the same, upper floor but towards the other end, are the various educational and, home industry exhibits. Parents and young people who are interested, as well as a few enthusiast?, visit these galleries, but the general public is conspicuous by its absence. Downstairs Canada makes a brave 6how, a really representative exhibit, and arranged with much taste and skill. Other colonies and many private firms are also well represented, but as we conclude a. first cursory examination, we feel that the show is in no sense international. It is an advertisement of the colony, and especially of the Governmet, while the people and concerns •whom one looks for as exhibitors are not to be found. Their past experience has taught them that the game is not worth the candle as a business advertisement. Plodding along the hot, hard corridors, the magio word "Fernery"' attracts us, and we gladly turn in at the door. But what a colour! How ghastly the women look! Their white dresses and fair faces hare taken on a hideous hue -of pale green, and the fern, fronds themselves seem to be painted in arsenical colours. The beauty of Nature is distorted .here. Someone has put green glass into the roof or has painted the panes green, and the whole thing is spoiled. It is not a copy of Nature, nor a work of art, but a parody. Enamoured youths sitting in this quasi-aboreal retreat, half hidden from the rays of an electric lamp by the few lingering fronds of half-dead tree ferns, think, as they slip their arms round the rigidly-corseted waists of their inamoratas, that it is Elysium ! Happy dreamers, who have no aesthetic tastea to be offended ! To ue, who are jso ready to criticise, the whole seems very artificial. A fine conservatory, with healthy, vigorous pot plants— common if you like, so long as they grow strongly and freely — would have been a joy and a pleasant place of retreat from the stuffy, unventilated corridors, and withal would have cost a tithe of what has been spent on the present chow. This thing is a fern cemetery, lit by such light as never shone on earth or sea. Ah, well! Come out, my grumbler, and let us take refuge in the Art Gallery. But stop: an official (what a crowd of them there is!) demands an entrance ticket. Back you go to find a small boy dispensing slips of cardboard in consideration of another coin of the realm. Really, how long can our shrivelled purees and quickly vanishing stock of small change stand this strain. "The country, my dear sir," says a commissioner, a Government one, of course, " is so prosperous that everyone can afford to pay extra for the great privilege of seing these fine pictures in cotnparati\o quietness and peace." Perhaps so; but. •unfortunately, bein«r one of the salaried gentry whose emoluments do not increase in any corresponding ratio — direct or indirect- — to the increase of the wealth of the country, I find .that the only direct outcome of this national prosperity, as far as it affects me, is a rise in the price of living generally. But comfort lies in the thoug-ht that this is a free countiy, blessed with the most liberal of Liberal Governments. So we recover as quickly as possible from the loss of the sixpences of which we have just been mulcted, and are prepared to flourish our sticks and paraeols over our heads when wo think of the glorious freedom we enjoy, and the liberal methods adopted for the encouragement of art. when — " You must lea\a your fctick behind; no canes allowed in the Art Gallery !" We sadly resign our belougings, and, crushed in spirit, feel unable to do more than move to the first seat. We seat ourselves — we have come to look at our leisure, not to ru=h through the rooms catalogue in hand. Behind us on the adjacent seats, are other \isitors who have come to crifici-e. "Just look at the broadth exhibited in that picture, how the arti=t has caught th<» \rrv tint of heaven as the light falls,"' otc, etc. , Why will people talk art who do not know anything about it? If you want to hear claptrap, go into a picture gallery and listen to the got-up twaddle of the average art critic. There is more sham sentiment in people who aro to look at pictures than anywhere else out of a society drawing room. W» move of]F to another room and sit down to enjoy Millet's masterpiece, one of the finest things in the Exhibition, i "_A Black Sheep," when again voices behind us compel the attention. Whom have we got here? We mu->t perforce listen, for the conversation is not in whispers, or el-e move away. " What i-> it all about :"' you say. It seems to be whether a man who is to be an examiner in Church ln^torv for a degree in Divinity chill bo Catholicor Protestant or Jew ! What is this divinity of which they talk? Is it theosophy under another name, or bad <cioncc v What in the name of all the Gods of , Greece has it got to do with the picture gallery? Are these the men who meditate about the establishment of degrees in domestic science? Fortunate] v for us at this moment a suggestive bell denotes that the hour for lunoh has arrived, and 6O we are once more left in peace. Let us hope that these disturbers of our artistio sense are happily mated to wives who, though innocent of all the learning of the universities, have yet that aptness in household and especially kitchen affairs which counts for more in domestic felicity than any degree of "blueness." \ Out in the open, among the sand-wa-stos over which the rambling buildings aro scattered, are a number of unhappy-look-ing li7ards in an enclosure. They arc labelled Tuataras. but m their still dryne-s they look as if they were made of green | and grey cartridge paper. If only the ehade of Heine were here to talk to them. ■ what a depth of philo=ophv these old-time ' creatnres might reveal. But here is no Heine, no Baths of Lucca— nothing but money-makins? twentieth-century mortals, who never heard of either, but whose thonghts are solely of shekels and how to , lure them out of human purges and pockets. Th« picture gallery is the b»st thin? in the bigr show. There were individual piotures in the Dunedin Exhibition which were perhaps better than anything shown there, though to many Holman Hunt's gr^at masterpiece is thought to stand by itself. But there are many beautiful things here, and the hours spent in these rooms are the most enjoyable and most profitable

which can be got out of the Exhibition. There is a pretty little show outside the main building in the form of an aquarium, furnished with neat and tasteful tanks, well lit from above, filled with beautifully clear water, and stocked with specimens of the various species of fish whirh have been introduced into the fre=h waters of the colony. This is an interesting and well-kept little place in which to epend half an hour pleasantly and nrofitably—a place regarding which no adverse criticism has been heard. Outside of this lies the gr-eai Barmim chow of the Exhibition— the merry-go-rounds, water chutes, castles of mystery, shooting galleries, and a miscellaneous collection of rubbish, which would be all very well in connection with a big variety company or a country fair, but which is a very unworthy feature in a Government concern conducted theoretically for the enlightenment and advancement of the colony. It is the piaoe where people throw airay their money in a very unintelligent manner, and -it merely supports a small army of parasites at the expense of that <?asi!\ -amused and rather gullible ass, the New Zealand public. One of the most olveetionable features of the Exhibition b the portion devoted to the Native races. At first sight it looks very nice to bring Maoris and Fiji ana and Cook Islanders to cc© the bis: show, and in exchange to ghe exhibitions of hakas and dances, but on a. brief consideration the objectionable side is tco apparent. This professionalising of the Natives is bad; they are being taug.ht the meet demoralising lesson of their lives, and all to pander to a -vulgar curiosity. What possible good can come to them from their present experiences? They want to he taught thrift and the arts which tend to their betterment, and not to ha\e accentuated those idle habits which, alas, they are only too ready to fall into, and in which they emulate the poorest examples of our own race. Let us get down to the root of the thing Is the Exhibition a succt^s in the right sense? I say emphatically, No! Vulgarity is written all over it. Outside the car j,s assailed with a discordant babel of sounds intended to proclaim the merits of the sideehows, which seem *o constitute the main feature of the whole. Inside we seem to be walking in a country fair where have gathered all the cheap-jacks of Australia. No wonder that the shopkeeper 5*5 * and tradespeople of CtiristchuFch are not enamoured of it. They find their legitimate trade interfered with by these birds of passage, who pocket a great deal of the surplus cash, while the permanent residents are accumulating book debts. Then the Exhibition is going to cost a gieat deal of money, which, for all the benefit it is going to do to the colony, might as well be thrown into the eea. The really good features of the show are largely spoiled by the bad. By all legitimate means let us advertise the colony to the rest of the world as an exceptionally fine holiday resort ; our scenery and other attractions to tourists and sportsmen are among our valuable assets But it is not the place of a Government to run a variety show. There are quite enough people ready to exploit and make money out of the popular taste for excitement and tomfollery, without the Government taking up the role of caterer. Most of us think that the Government finger is in too many pies already. A comparison of the present Exhibition •with the New Zealand and South Seas Exhibition, held in Dunedin in 1889 90, is not in many respects favourable to the present show. This one is very much larger, and as represented by the exhibits of the Go- | vernment departmente shows the great | advances which have been made by the j colony in the intervening years. But there | the balance on the right side ceases. The j Dunedin Exhibition was run by local men, | who worked industriously, harmoniotvlv, I and happily to make it a success. It cost i the colcnv very little, and it di.l a crrcat ' deal towards furthering its trade and industry. and making it better known to the outside world, and it jrave a great amount of pleasure to all concerned. The a^t , exhibit was of a very high standard of i quality, and was always open to all visitor". The music was decidedly better. e\en though | tlje ors*a.n was a failure : and it wa? ?n«n j more ficelv and in a much finer hall than the proaent show boast 6. There was an ' orohc'tia quite as good as the present one — t which is sajing a good deal — and the rmi=:c committee brought here such first-class artists as Santley, and £ra\"e performances of a quality and style which have not been ' attempted in Christchurch. I "What is the feeling amonest publ ; e men | in Christchurch over this Exhibition Tt i*> j chiefly one of disgust and irritation They | •went into the scheme casrerly at first, to I find that they were to be snubbed and bluffed at every turn; their feuggestions i were largely ignored, and everywhere they ' ran up against some Government official or i nomipee. The result i« that a majority have dropped out of all touch with it. I They realise that in this over governed country, freedom of thought and action are not appreciated. ' The washing up will come during the *>n~uing winter, and many thoughtful people in the Cathedral City will be glad when the erra^s once more grows over the site of | the big show. |