The Melbourne Exhibition.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume VII, Issue 1196, 14 December 1880, Page 2

The Melbourne Exhibition.

(from our own correspondent.) [By Cosmopolitan.] The Japanese mind is a distinct organ-, ism in creation, possessing as many convolutions as a curious sea-shell. Sometimes you meet, in their bronzes and art- porcelain, designs of the most demoniacal conception, forms twisted into such grotesque devilry of extravagance, such horrible contortions, and such uncanny wildness of expression, that-fchey suggest to you the artist must have made a sketching tour in the regions of Dante's Inferno; Then again, other bronzes blossom out in a screaming farce of the most extravagant order. And most' of these objects . dart are adapted to everyday uses. Candlesticks ' rise" out of dragons' mouths or storks' j-necks. The awkward scuttling cuttle- ! fish is a paper weight. So is the de- | moniacal head shuffling along on six crab's lega, minus a body. The Japanese court at the " International " seems to have been doing a good stroke of busi--1 ness, for since our last visit most of the porcelain vases, the enamelled plateß, the grotesque bronzes, the beautiful lacquer-work, cabinets, great and small have blossomed out like Aaron's rod, with a shower of labels bearing the word "sold." If the harvest is plentiful, neither are the reapers few. Some are going to Sydney, others np-country. We' observe Mr. Henry Ketten has a feeling for bronze, Mrs Nameless a I weakness for porcelain, and Mrs Moneybags is fond of Japanese magnificence in j cloisonne enamel. The Japanese do not confine the application of ° ' lacquer-work [ to wooer alone,; but -'apply ibito -almost | every material. A really fine cabinet of the best style in. the work of act, and their lacquered wood-work excels that -of any other nation in the world. "For this purpose they make, choice -of the finest kinds of firs' and cedars, and cover them with the best varnish, which : they prepare from the Bhtts' Vernix, a tree that grows in- great abundance in Japan. When first caught, the varnish, as it oozes out is a light colour, and of the consistence of cream. May not the New Zealand gum be of similar value ? .The- Wins Vernix varnish is of so transparent a nature that when laid pure on wood, every vein and fibre will be seen through it. The Japaneae varnish can be used for lacquering- every specimen of wood work from architecture to fans, the natural colour of it is white, but it assumes any tint with wbich it may bo mixed. The usual colour is black or red, but bronze is common, and green, : blue, or yellow, are to be met with, as as also imitation tortoise-shelling and marbling. They did not know everything in Judee ! nor do they in Sydney, or the large monumental pair of blue cloisonne vases— the largest in the- Japan Court — would have been in the museum instead oi here.-. -They were sent by a merchant to Sydney last year, but arrived too late for' the Exhibition. Subsequently, they J were sold, with other things, by auction ; neither the auctioneer nor his audienoe j understood their value, and they w< j re ■ knocked down for twenty pounds. When the^Jap'ajggise arrived in Melbourne some months ago, with their exhibits, one of the 'staff saw these vases in a 3hop in Melbourne, and inquired the price. £35 ; wa s; the sum asked, which amount thecuie Oriental paid'down immediately for fear of any hiatus, and triumphantly exhibited them here in the Japanese Court— the price affixed to them being about four hundred per cent, more than the song for which Sydney parted with them. , Messrs. Harper's magnificently carved cedar bridge, in an adjacent Court, symbolizes Commerce and Manufactures, which may be said to" span the world, bringing the produce of foreign countries to our doors, and putting them on the tables of all classes, the. idea being farther developed by the presence of four.large bronze allegorical figures— two ■at each end, on either side— representing the four quarters of the, globe, Europe, . Asia, Africa, and America. The arms of Melbourne and of Sydney are carved . ..on the bridge, in the centre; of _ which stands a revolving octagonal showcase,- forming altogether one- of the handsomest trophies in the'-. Victorian 'display. Harper being both merchants ami" manufacturers, enables them topres'enfc a very instructive exhibit, showing the raw material, whether native or imported, in all its various stages, until ready for consumption or export. One is much impressed by the fact that so many of the products are now wholly grown in the Australian colonies. 1 The-coffeej which comes from Ceylon, Java, Jamaica, and Singapore, is I stripped ;of -ite. .parchment^ or husk,, after its arrival in Victoria, by attrition in machinery at Messrs. Harper's manufactory, where machinery of .150 horsepower ism daily use, The cocoa bean, from Trinidad, is also reduced to nibs and into powder at the mari«faetory.

The whole supply, o? both, mustard and chicory,;, is raised witjrin '4«6 colony. Chicory comes into Mj'pbourne in roots like parsnips, and ia cut in slices by machinery, and aftejj. going through; four stages of preparation, presents the useful article of commerce so widely known. That delicate preparation of, cocoas- the,, only form suitable for dys- ;- peptic podple,- or those piirsuihg seSeoT-" tary occupations — like " Cosmopolitan " 'when not oh" the 'rampage"— known "as cqcoaj;ihft, is made to / perfection m t/hiaj factory, and called tlieoljroma. The ■'TjosefjVby'any'othet^nanteV^ould'Smeiraissweet, and so does the ar : oraa. of Messrs Harper's theobroma. "A' free breakfast; table " was one of • Mr. - John Bright's Utopias, held out to the 'visiou-^ ary gaze of. people who love to dwell, in Spanish, castles" — in imagination. 'That goal lias hot. yet been, quite., achieved, but in Victoria the movement has been all in the other direction. Some astute conceived the notion that a .duty on i?ioej ; which tf'irjtned so large a -portion* of Jan ' Oriental V ■ ( diet,~ * w^ulct tend to keiaji out the " SeatWn Chiiieo " A wilder dream: .was never; hatched by a Scotch "* ' "poiitical r; economist, : arid it >is daily proving" itself "t6 be a complete delusion: "- Thfe m«ahes of such a net are much, too .large to infold the tribe of Ah Sin, M witter the smile that is childlike and bland !" .; ; The Chinee is successfully educating 1 himself to another diet than rice,. -and smiles at the rice-tax, with a Bmile^thatiia.,penaive and bland. A colony of nearly a million souls thus daily ; pays * .tax; which '. was levied at 13,000 Chinamen ! The ship-, loads ofrice that are imported by Messrs. Harper, looking quite bro.wu. and unwholesome, are rendered hy their appliances, whiter and. pure, in some growths assuming.the most transparent peari-like appearance. Oatmeal por- 1 ridge is another of" those breakfast-table necessaries .-made possible by this firm, and also the spices' that have become so indispensable. But the feature Worth notice to an observer, is, that all these processes are carried out in every stage from the raw material,, without aid from anything external to the colony,^ even the fancy boxes, with oromatic pictures upon them, in which all these productions are packed, being" made by the firm. In view of a National Museum, which is said to be the destination of the Exhibition building, an.excellent start was made on Saturday by the acquisition of a pretty considerable nest-egg, being nothing less than the free gift, by the French Government^ of the whole of the contents of the largest of the French Courts, i.e., that demoted- to the Government display, comprising a large number of handsome leather-bound volumes, on all kinds of subjects, plans of public works, architecture j photographs of viaducts, bridges, .town halls, and a multiplicity of valuable objects/ and works for reference-' and use. All that is wanted in the first instance towards a National. .Museum (ia a good nucleus, .around which, year by year, acquisitions by gift or purchase wSll crystallisse. * See what twenty years -has. done for the South Kensington, ! After the example set by "France .md ■ Germany, • who are ? i3ound'to Mis by ho kindred ties, we hope the Brit|ah Com...mission will bequeath to .the. colony all the electrotype copfii of: the national plate in the Tower of I<ondon , and Windsor Castle. . Music and Art seems to attract the larger 'portion, of the visitors to the International- Exhibitipn,, who, _ar«i generally found thickest in the picture galleriesj : Or ; arouM .Vi tHe pianof6rt^ recitals. ' One of "our acquaintances;"' who belongs to the ■tyouvcqii riche community, and his family, have made such astonishing progressi.h their Art culture by the works, exhibifed here, that they are going' to make -the grand tour of Europe to- complete the process ; and during their, stay atfjßome or Florence, materfamilias ihgen^busiy- informs me, she intends having- K|r portrait- painted by one oi the Oldt Masters. 'This' is ! progress with a vengeance.'- -v-.'-j::*?!.:j