AUCKLAND EXHIBITION.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVI, Issue 272, 18 April 1914, Page 5

AUCKLAND EXHIBITION.

; WILL RiiTURN A PROFIT. SOME OF THE DIFFICULTIES ENUMERATED. By Telegraph—Press Association. Auckland, Lagt Night. The Auckland Exhibition closes tomorrow. Discussing the financial side " of the institution to-day, Mr. Elliott, the president of the executive, said: "The t Exhibition has been a success. It is at present impossible to form more than an approximate idea of what the bal-ance-sheet will indicate, but we are go- ' ing to show a bigger profit than has been shown by any other exhibition pre- , viously held in Australia. ' "Just what a set-back the epidemic 1 meant to us we never allowed the pubi lie to know, but at one time it looked 1 a* if we would not survive the check we received. Intending exhibitors all over New Zealand, in Australia, and in - Great Britain wrote or cabled cancelling . their applications for space. They all thought that the epidemic meant the end of the exhibition. That is one reason why there were so many small stalls and small stallholders. We had to large remodel the original scheme to meet this contingency. The attendance also during December and January was greatly affected by the fear of the epidemic. On the top of the epidemic came the general strike, and just how lmicti trouble it entaiTed will be still fresh in the public mind." ' Mr. Elliott's announcement of a satisfactory profit has not'been received with , s any enthusiasm by the large number of stallholders who purchased' sclliag rights. '• Almost all of them have losj money. :t Some arc only a few pounds jut, but y quite a number have lost some hunj (lreds, while one man, at least, who is interested in Wonderland, as well as the Exhibition estimates his locs at 3)0(1 ,t or £4OOO. The Exhibition will close with a total attendance >f between KO-'UKXI and (100,000 instead of the expected twe 1_ millions.