The Taranaki Herald. PUBLISHED DAILY. TUESDAY, APRIL 22, 1890.

Taranaki Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 8759, 22 April 1890, Page 2

The Taranaki Herald. PUBLISHED DAILY. TUESDAY, APRIL 22, 1890.

The New Zealand Exhibition was brought to a close last Saturday, after being open for four and a half months. Shows of this kind have followed one another with such frequency that they had a tendency to produce satiety ; and we feared when the present Exhibition was first mooted it would be a failure. But the word " failure," it seems, did not exist in the vocabulary of the promoters, for they sent out lecturing Commissioners to work up the people in all parts of the colony into enthusiasm. The Commission, however, found the people in the North Island extremely apathetic. They had been badly treated, as a rule, by Commissioners connected with the Exhibitions held in Wellington and Melbourne ; and, moreover, as they felt no direct benefit could be derived from these shows, only avery few took sufficient I interest in it to send exhibits to Dunedin. The idea of the exhibition originated in I the active brain of Mr. It. Twopeny, who is not wi'.hout experience in this line, and it must be some satisfaction to him, after the cold reception his emissaries met with everywhere, at the first, to find that his project has proved such a decided success. The laying the corner stone of the building was the last public act of Sir William Jervois previous to his leaving the colony. This event took place on the 20th March, 1889, and all Dunedin turned out to do honor to the occasion and to the departing Governor. The Exhibition was opened on 20th November of the same year, and while outside contributions were invited from Australia and other countries with direct interests with the southern colony, its main object was to set forth the varied and valuable productions of New Zealand itself. In lieu of the buildings and collections originally promised by the Government, it was arranged that the State contribution should bo £10,000, conditional un the guarantee from private subscribers being raised to £15,000. There was no difficulty in complying with that requirement, for shares were readily taken up in all the districts. The building erected, for the Exhibition was as handsome as could be obtained for the funds at disposal for this purpose, and now forms a prominent feature in the city. A collection illustrative of early Maori history and of South Sea products was procured, as well as a portion of the collection of British loan pictures sent to Melbourne. Although the exhibits from the North Island were not numerous, those from Canterbury and Otago uiaclo up for it. The Exhibition has been open twenty-one weeks, during which time nearly 680,000 persons have visited it. The receipts since the ojjciiing of the Exhibition for admission, licenses, entertainments, and sundry other sources, have been nearly £25,000. There can be no doubt that the excellent orchestra has been a very great attraction and has keen the means of drawing persons to the Exhibition, and the performers deserve all the encomiums which have been bestowed on them. Altogether the Exhibition held in the Jubilee year of the colony has been a great success, and the promoters of it and all who took part deserve every praise for the energy they have displayed before and since it was opened.