FRANCO-BRITISH EXHIBITION.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIC, Issue 13656, 27 July 1908, Page 3

FRANCO-BRITISH EXHIBITION.

THE NEW ZEALAND COURT.

Nearly a. column of space is devoted by the London •' Morning Post," to a detailed description of the New Zealand Court at the Franco-British Exhibition.. The writer says: " Colonial Avenue, one of the main thoroughfares of the Franco-British Exhibition, can boast no more important pavilion than that which is devoted to a display of the part which New Zealand is taking in Imperial progress. This prosperous Dominion, where farmers make fortunes in a few years by supplying food for the people of Great Britain, has sent a very fine collection of exhibits, to the White City, and they are arranged in a manner which enables the visitor to form a very good idea of what the country can do.. The ordinary visitor to the Exhibition, with no direct knowledge of the Empire, sees the New Zealand lamb which he uften eats under the impression that it is English, the New Zealand butter which is blended with Continental butter, for fear it should be recognised, and the oilier results of the New Zealand industry; the prospective emigrant is given all information in the course of a conversation with an expert, and is sent away laden with literature. Take the sheep away from New Zealand and New Zealand totters. The export trade in manufactured woollen goods is not of much account. The quality is extremely good, the price high, and as the New Zealander has morei money to spend than the Englishman the sale is almosti entirely local. "In the refrigerating chamber—if the Exhibition authorities have reached the building with the electric current to drive the motor—will be seen the frozen lamb, mntton, butter, cheese, and eggs which New Zealand produces and sends tb var ious parts of the. Empire. The trade in frozen lamb and mutton is a thing that the New Zealander is very proud of. Splendid butter equal to that which any European country can send tis comes from New Zealand to Great Bntain, and every Englishman would know it if the retailers would only sell the butter as that of New Zealand. The Dominion has no difficulty in getting rid of aU its dairy produce, and the admirable transport facilitise, illustrated among the exhibits, enable the goods to be delivered here m good condition. AU the cereals, that can be grown in the Old Country can be grown in New Zealand. It is one of the boasts of the Dominion that the climate is much the same as that of England, only better There are millions of acres of virgin land there waiting for tillers, and the soil is so suitable that the average yield per acre is higher in New Zealand than in any other portion of Greater Britain. "Gold," continues the writer, 'is the chief item of the mineral wealth of New Zealand, which is .the proud possessor of the gold mine with the record yield of Australia. Specimens from this mine are shown in the section. The country is rich in coal,, and there is a good exhibit ion of this article. The British Admiralty purchases most of its coal for tho Australian and China stations in New Zealand, which has some capital mines of good steam coal, equal, it is said to tihe South Wales. On the shores of the Dominion ironsand is found, and a sample, of this is shown, together with articles made from it. There are, besides, huge quantities of hematite iron ore. A table of kauri'wood which is to be seen should, certainly not b" allowed to go back to the Dominion if it can be purchased by anyone who de:-m-s to be the owner of something, which will make his friends envious. Kauri gum has a case to it-

self. This is used in making high-class varnishes, and in .1906 New Zealand exported nearly 10,000. tons, valued at half a million sterling, to a. eat Britain and the United States. Spoilsmen will find much to interest them in the pavilion, lor stags' Leads, (nob a few of them ltoyals) °are. arranged to illustrate the attractions of the country 10 the man with the gun or rod. Theio fie plenty of photographs of life-in the Dominion and literature. The farmer who finds the Old Country fail him "cannot do batter than, pay a visit to the hall in which New Zea, land displays her piouperiiy and her possibilities."