The Star. TUESDAY, JULY 4, 1882.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 4428, 4 July 1882, Page 2

The Star. TUESDAY, JULY 4, 1882.

Thh Hottsbs 01 Pabliambkt thought th* International Exhibition a matter of sack great importance as to warrant them in bu» pending their legislative duties, and coming to Ohristchurch. Bo Sir Maurice O'Borkt informed the assembled guests at the banquet giron in the Exhibition on Saturday. That cjnc!uß : 'jn having been arrired at, the Houses aforesaid drew upon the publio pune for their tr&volling expenses. Nothing could be more distinctly specified than the purpose for which tho extraordinary expenditure of publio money was to be incurred ; and he would | have been deemed a snarling oynio who ventured even to hint that a misappropriation of the Colonial fuids would in any way have been brought about. Yet of (he crowd of legislators who left Wellington, only n score or so were present at tho.gathering to which they had been invited. Those "absent frionds," as Mr Jouberfc termed them— and no doubt with inuoh inward sarcasm—had in tho first instance perpetrated a gross iDßult to the Exhibition promoters, and to all who were asembled to do them honour. And they have further laid themselves open to grave charge. Our morning^ contemporary, the Lyttellon Timet, has compared their erratio conduct to tho deceptirenesi of youths who invent nouses in order to get a holiday* That is certainly an exceedingly good-natured way of putting it, but the majority of people, we fancy, will regard these truant legislators. as persons who ought to have arrived at year) of discretion, and wno ought, indeed, to be more than ordinarily precise in their observance of the common con* Tentionalities. Their absence from the Exhibition gathering will, we thick, be set down to one or other of two causes : —Either those Southerncra are 10 ingrained with provincial jealoueioe, that to minister in any degree to the prestige of Canterbury would bo altogether too largo a leek for them I to get down without choking ; or their heredi- I tary initincts impelled them to utilise the j trip at the country's expense, for the transao- J tion of thoir private business. Whiohevor 1 reaticn be takon as the explanation of the j empty pieces at the gathering in question, 1 public opinion will brand suoh conduct as A contemptible. fl

Ay Extbaobdinabt Hhmauk was mado by SB Hie Worship tho Mayor of Christohurch at H| the Exhibition banquet. His Worship is re- fIH ported to hare eaid : " I am sure it is the wish, i^fl of tho public that arrangements may beflH bi ought about between the Gorernmenb andflH the Domain Board to grant oonoesaioDi to anjflfl enterprising person, as an inducement to pu^^^B cliaao at least tho centra] portion of thobuil^H^E irq, to bo uppropriatod aa a place of rocroa^^H^l and resort for our community." Our^^fl^B^fl impreceion was that this utterance n^H^^^^l classed with those of which Mr Jcubo^^HHlß later on, as due to " the double influflHßH

lobster salad, and questionable wines ;" and had thiß impression been permitted to hold good, the Mayor's conviction as to the wish of thepublicmighthavepassed unchallenged. But that " bashful and retiring individual," as Mr -Joubert haa thought fit to term himself, demonstrated that the bag had been opened wifli a vengeance, arid that the animal whioh' had bean let out was not the proverbial cat, but a Colonial Jumbo. Mr Joubert said: «'The coat of this building has exceeded my calculations, and now that the Exhibition v •drawing to a close, we find that we have a "iplendid, costly white elephant in out possession; but will the Government or the Domain Board allow it to graze on tbi» park, or must we remove it to tho banks of ; the ■ Hooghley, where, I »m told, elephants or "all sizes or colour thrive veil? That's the -question." Just so, and the question is a mighty pretty specimen of cool impudence. •Messrs Joubert and Twopeny must be blessed with peculiarly convenient memories, for they seen to have lost all recollection of the " Battle of the Sites," and to have become utterly oblivious o£ the fact that their admission to the People'! Park was a special act of grace and favour. Anything mora monstrous than the proposal that the Exhibition building should be allowed to permanently occupy a portion of Haglay Park, we never heard of ; and that the Mayor of Ohristchurch should have permitted himself to be cajoled into Jending hinuelf to Buch a scheme, passes comprehension. And such a building ! The Mayor— the post-prandial Mayor, that is — »poke of these "large and handsome buildings." The "bashful and retiring" showman, not, to bo outdone in tho exercise of his peculiar gift, described the structure as " splendid and coatly." Cool-headed people regard the building as a " shedifice " which has •erved a temporary purpose very well, but which, v? hen deserted by its present " tenants by courtesy," will stand conf essedin allits crazy and unredeemable ugliness. We hope that the Mayor, removed from the seductive influence of the Exhibition promoter*' "blarney," will regain of his common Benae, and will take the earliest opportunity of relieving the apprehensions cf a commiserating public. We may be permitted to suggest that if the building is not removed to India, the eternal fitness of things will be sacrificed. There is a sweet affinity .between the external appearance of the structure, and the name of the Indian site selected for Meesri Joubert and Twopenj'a next speculation.