South Canterbury Times. THURSDAY, AUGUST 2, 1888.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 4766, 2 August 1888, Page 2

South Canterbury Times. THURSDAY, AUGUST 2, 1888.

The description given,in part yesterday and tho remainder to-day, of the opening of the Melbourne Centennial Exhibition, shows that the ceremony was a brilliant and successful affair. Governors and Commanders and everyone who is by any law or regulation or custom entitled to bedeck himself in a coat of many colours, or make a bird-of-para-dise as to gorgeousncsa in any other way, were mustered, marshalled and marched through the streets of Melbourne to the “ grand doorway ” and into the “ Avenue of Nations,” to the blaring of brass bands and the hoarse cries of policemen to tho unbedizened crowd, “ Stand back there !’ The biggest thing about the exhibition was this exhibition of childish love for pageantry. But Melbourne had laid a monstrous big egg, and must needs make a big fuss and cackle over it, as Dame Partlet lets all the world within bearing know that there’s another possible chicken lying about somewhere. There may be some good industrial, social, or artistic chickens hatched from this Centennial lay, bub but be would be a bold statist who would venture to count them beforehand. For our own part we doubt very much whether this “ world’s fair ” business is not played out for all useful purposes. The stores of every good sized town nowadays constitute a world’s fair, and the machinery of commerce and the stimulus of profit-making does more every year to develop interchange than forty world’s fairs could do. Local exhibitions have still a value, in progressive colonies at all events, but these mammoth international omnium gatherum affairs are big shows and nothing else, and the piper’s fees are out of all proportion to the value of his music. Still people had better to go to Melbourne to see such a show than to see the Cup. Some, we know, intend to go to see the Exhibition, because they can manage to see the Cup also, but it is, the latter that attracts them.