THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. WEDNESDAY, MARCH 28, 1906.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXVIII, Issue 8106, 28 March 1906, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. WEDNESDAY, MARCH 28, 1906.

It is ouly natural, perhapa, that in regard to so important a matter as the International Exhibition, there should be a certain amount of aer vousness felt here and there as to the stepß that are being taken not merely to seoure what may be deemed a success in Ohristohurob eyes, but that the whole colony shall be benefited, and that the undertaking shall be satisfactorily carried out from a financial point of view. In the South some friction, unfortunately, seems to have arisen, and it is to be hoped that it will not continue. It may reasonably be' assumed that the people of Cfarißtohurch are aa mag-

naminous, energetics, and as loyal to the country as the inhabitants of any other town or district in the colony. The people of New Zealand are proud of their country's reputation, and we may rest assurod that in regard to the International Exhibition they will do their utmost to uphold that reputation, while the marked interest that has been displayed in New Zealand by outside countries for some years past leaves no room to doubt that foreign maun faoturers and visitors will not be in evidence to an extent quite in keeping with the most sanguine expectations of the promoters. The Government may be depended up on, we think, to do the right thing, and to doing it well in the case of the Exhibition. We do not make the foregoing observation from any sense of appreciation of the Govern meut'a general administration, but "exhibitions" are what our Ministers are particularly good at, and we have, no doubt, that the zest and energy that will be displayed in connection with the International affair, in November next ; will leave nothing to be desired. It may reasonably be assumed that the Executive Commissioners have been carefully selected, and are quite up to the arduous duties that they are undertaking. It is, therefore, with some regret that we note that the Donedin Evening Star should consider it necessary to remark:—"We cannot blink the fact that the preparations for the International Exhibition are causing a certain amount of friotion as between Christchuroh aud other parts of the Colony. So far as our observation goes, the faults are not all on one side. On the one hand, we quite agree with those Canterbury people aud newspapers who complain that the project is not being furthered with adequate energy and loyalty in Dunedin. The use of the word "loyalty," in this connection is not wholly unwarrantable from the view point of oolonial solidarity. All parts of New Zealand will derive benefit, to a greater or less extent, from the Exhibition, and we have no sympathy whatever with the contention that it is a Chrißtcburcb, affair, which the Christchuroh or Canterbury folk may be left to manage by themselves. At best this would be a selfish attitude to adopt; but in point of fact it is foolish and short-sighted. Dunedin was well enough treated by the other centres at the time of the New Zealand and South Seas Exhibition, seventeeu years ago, and those districts whioh heartily co-operated on that occasion had no cause to regret their friendly action. We desire once more to emphasise the fact that this is a colonial, not a provincial, undertaking. The Obristchuoh Press truly observes that the Exhibition will fail in its objects unless the colony, as a whole, benefits by its existence. Of course, it is only to be expeated that Christohuich will secure the primary and chief share of advantage, and we should be sorry indeed to think that any considerable saotion of the oitizens of Dunedin oould be so churlish as to grudge our neighbours their good fortune." The Star goes on to say, in replying to the Chriatohuroh Preßs:-~"We are of opinion that the people of Christohurob are not bearing their proper share of the financial responsibility. In this respeot they are not copying the admirable example set by Dunedin in 1889-90. The complaint that Chriatohuroh is doing little or nothing for the exhibition is refuted, aooording to our contemporary, by the reminder that 'the tasks allotted to the various committees make demands upon the time and energy of some 300 individuals, none of whom receive a penny for duties that in some cases,, if net all, will only end on the opening day.' The line of argument is almost childish, Our committeemen had to work just as bard and unselfishly at the time of the Dunedin Exhibition, but the demands made upon the time of a number of individuals did not release the local community from the necessity of raising a large guarantee fund. We are not surprised that outsiders comment on the apparent contrast between the contributions and the prospective gains of the inhabitants of Christohuroh."