AN AUTHORITATIVE REVIEW

Otago Witness, Issue 3764, 4 May 1926, Page 28

AN AUTHORITATIVE REVIEW

GENERAL MANAGER'S IMPRESSIONS. During the currency of the Exhibition several highly interesting addresses have been broadcasted from the Exhibition wireless station, VLDN, and one of the most important of these was that delivered by the general manager (Mr C. P Hainsworth) on the 26th. Mr Hainsworth commenced by saying that although he was pleased to address an audience of thousands of listeners in New Zealand and further afield, the occasion was tinged with some regret, for it reminded him that this would be the last radio talk which he would give at Dunedin, since all good things had to come to an end and in another five days the New Zealand and South Seas International Exhibition, which for nearly six months now had been a vital part of the Dominion’s national life, would have become merely a memory. “You have been told by previous radio speakers all about the wonders of the Exhibition,” he said. “The commissioners have each described in detail to you their own courts. You have even been able, thanks to twentieth century science, to sit in your homes in Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Invercargill and listen to the music of the famous Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders’ Band at that moment delighting an audience of several thousands in the Grand Court or the Festival Ilall at the Exhibition. Tt is fitting now, on the eve of the closing of the Exhibition, to glance backwards along the joyful road which we have come and endeavour to form some idea of what our great undertaking has accomplished. ‘ln attempting to measure the success of an Exhibition the quantity and quality of the attendance is first of supreme importance. for, since the prime purpose of an Exhibition is to capture the attention of as many people as possible for the manufactures and products displayed by exhibitors, it follows that the attendance must be satisfactory not only from a numerical point of view, but must include a fair proportion of visitors from beyond the Exhbition city. “It is now quite certain that when the Exhibition closes on Saturday the grand attendance will have passed the 3,000.000 mark, thus setting a new record for the Dominion, more than 50 per cent, better than the previous record achieved at the Christchurch Exhibition of 1906-07. Of course in considering attendances clue allowance must be made for differences in population, but a little consideration will show that the New Zealand and Soulh Seas Exhibition, although it came 18 years after the Exhibition at Christchurch, has reallv not enjoyed any groat advantage from the growth of population in the meantime. I have had 24 years’ experience of Exhibitions and can therefore claim to speak with authority on this subject, and my experience here has corroborated the general experience of all exhibitions that the majority of the attendance comes in the first place from the Exhibition citv itself. The point, to noto here is that the population of Dunedin today i<> not much greater than that of Christchurch in 1906-07. “And the increase in the population of the Dominon as a whole is counterbalanced to n very large extont by the handicap which our Exhibition has had to carry, due to the geographical nosition of punodin—almost at one end of the Dominion — as compared with the central position of Christchurch .or Wellington, each with a citv larger than Dunedin within easv reach, and almost equally distant from the rest of the Dominion. In the light of these facts the attendance record with which tho Exhibition will close on Saturday is a very remarkable achievement indeed, and, I may aay, it ha* far surpassed tho most sanmiine expectations of t.h« promoters. "It has been stated by all the oyeraeaft

commissioners that the direct results already obtained in the way of trade orders have been very satisfactory, and there are, of course, many other unseen benefits which cannot be measured or calculated. The Exhibition has placed in the foreground of public politics tu New Zealand the support first of home industries, and after that of trade within the Empire. It has been in particular a wonderful advertisement for the south and for the city of Dunedin, the effect of which will continue to be felt for many years while the thousands of school children who have been visiting us during recent weeks are growing into the men and , women of the next generation. It will also leave many permanent improvements as its memorial in Dunedin, such as the new Highway, a magnificent public park of nearly 100 acres, and a fleet of motor buses which have paid for themselves, or, rather, which have been paid for by visitors to the Exhibition. “It is too soon yet to indicate what the financial result will be, but it is possible to say this much at least, that the shareholders, whose courage made this great undertaking possible, will receive back probably a good deal more of their mouey than they ever hoped to obtain when they took up their holding in the company. “It is interesting to compare the gradual growth of exhibition® in New Zealand which has kept steady with the general growth of the Dominion. From earliest times Dunedin has been an exhibition city. The first exhibition was held at Dunedin in 1865, when tiie total white population of New Zealand was rather less than • 200,000. Comparatively, this exhibition was on a somewhat ambitious scale. The industries and resources of the colony, as far as they were known then, were comprehensively displayed. Each of the six Australian colonies was represented, and the United Kingdomsent exhibits of machinery, agricultural implements, and manufactures. Canada, France, Germany, Austria, and Holland also had displays, thus fairly entitling the exhibition to be called ‘international.’ The whole enterprise was very successful, reflecting great credit on its originators, the people of Otago. In 1882, when the white population of New Zealand was just over half a million, an exhibition waa privately organised in Christchurch, with the active support of the Canterbury Industrial Association. This exhibition was opened on April 10, 1882, a remained open for 14 weeks, during whicn period it was visited by 226,300 persons. Another exhibition was directly promoted by the Government in 1885 in connection with the revision of the Customs tariff, which was intended to stimulate the development of New Zeaalnd industries, with a view to the building up of an export trade. This exhibition was held in Wellington, opening on August 1 and closing on October 3 of the same year, and in that short time was visited by 133,000 people. Then came the New Zealand and South Seas Exhibition of 1889-90, which coincided with the jubilee of the proclamation of British sovereignty over New Zealand. The ground of this exhibition comprised 12£ acres, compared with the 65 acres which the present one covers. There were exhibits from the Australian colonies (as they were then), South Sea 1 Islands, United Kingdom, United States, Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, and Japan, and New Zealand itself was, of course, comprehensively . represented. The exhibition opened early in December, 1889, and closed in April, 1890, with an attendance record of 618,662. This brings us up to the Christchurch Exhibition of 1906-7, which is still remembered, although the memory cannot be fresh after 18 years, by many people throughout New Zealand. The buildings covered nearly 14 acres, and were on a much more ambitious scale than any of the exhibitions which had preceded Christchurch’s effort. The exhibition was opened on November 1. 1906, and closed on April 15, 1907, with a total attendance of 1,970,000. Great Britain, Canada, Fiji, and Australia each maintained separate courts at this exhibition, as they have done at Dunedin again to-day. “Exhibitions form a very convenient means of estimating the growth of a young country, and the few facts which 1 have given you clearly demonstrate the wonderful growth of this favoured Dominion, particularly during the last 18 years since the Christchurch display. I hope to see as much as possible of the ‘Brighter Britain of the South* before I return home to Great Britain, and I have no doubt that the next 18 years will witness just as wonderful developments. “I cannot end this iittle talk without reference to what by universal opinion has been one of the outstanding features of the Exhibition—the magnificent success of the Exhibition Band—the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders. On the first day, which seems so far away, how they became the people’s, favourites, and soon, it is no exaggeration to say, everyone from Auckland to Bluff was talking about the wonderful Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders’ Rand. It is equally true to say they have been a very important factor in drawing the people of Dunedin and surrounding district back to the Exhibition time and lime again, and I am all the more delighted at the success which has crowned the directors' courage in importing this famous band from Britain, which was necessarily a most expensive undertaking, since it was on my strong recommendation that the band was engaged. I have had the pleasure of engaging the band at rcveral Exhibitions in the Old Country, but I have never knowr them to come so triumphantly through such long and arduous service.”