N.Z. INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION.

Wanganui Herald, Volume XXXXI, Issue 12062, 5 January 1907, Page 5

N.Z. INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION.

THE DOG SHOW.

THE BESSES O' THE BARN BAND.

ENORMOUS ENTRIES FOR THE BAND CONTEST.

By Telegraph. Special Service.

CHRISTCHURCH, January 4. The Exhibition Dog Show attracted a large attendance to-day, and owing to its great success will be continued for a third day (to-morrow) at a reduced price for admission.

I'he magnificent .Exhibition orchestra is becoming more popular day by day, and the large audience last night enthusiastically demanded no less than three extra numbers. Miss Millicent Heywood, piano ■soloist, was well received at last night's concert, and Miss Phoebe Parsons sang with much success. This afternoon a chamber music concert was given to a fair audience. s Mr Massey, organist to the Bathurst Cathedral, New South Wales, arrived today, to give organ recitals, but has nostponed the first of these from to-morrow till Monday, so that he may have more time to acquire familiarity' with the Ekhibition instrument.

The toboggan racing again drew a crowded attendance to Wonderland last night, and the time of the winning couple was a retjprd for the track. After the racing "Demos" shot the water chute on a bicycle, with his clothes saturated with chemicals and blazing furiously. A constant succession of interested visitors has patronised the Maori Pah. Up to the present 14,000 people have paid for admksioß. The departure of/ the Cook Islanders from the pah, which takes place on the 12th inst., will be compensated by the arrival of a large body of Wanganui and Ngaitupoea natives, who are expected to be here very soon. The Cook Islanders on their return home via Auckland will call at Otaki and Wanganui, where they will receive a welcome from the local Maoris.

Tho Hon. William Knox, one of Victoria's Executive Commissioners and a member of the Federal House of Representatives, visited the Exhibition to-day and speaks warmly in its praise. He considers the whole design excellent, and says the dimensions of the great fair are Quite equal to hie expectations. He expresses himself a 6 much impressed by the beauty of the position, and especially of the fiontage, which the meandering Avon much ndorn9. The whole arrangements show, he thinks, great enterprise and great design. The Bes9ea o* the Barn Band gives its first performance on Thursday next. The band will arrive from Wellington in the morning, be met at the wharf by the Lyttelton Marine Band, escorted from Christchurch Railway Station to the hotel by the Garrison Band, receive a reception in the Concert Hall in the afternoon, and in the evening be escorted by six local bands to the Exhibition sports ground, where the first performance will be given. Enormous entries have been received from all parts of the colony, and also from Australia, for the International Band Contest, which takes place early next month.

The next display of Pain's London fireworks will be given on Monday next, on the sanio extensive scale as on New Year's eve.

Mr Donne, general manager of the Tourist Department, stated in an interview that many residents in other parts of the colony who had stayed at home over Christmas for the sake of their favourite holiday fixtures in their own localities, such as the big races at Auckland, would shortly be coming to the Exhibition. He felt confident that the attendance at the Exhibition throughout the remainder of its currency would be large. Investigation shows a very simple explanation of the fact that, no large bodies of school children are visiting the Exhibition at present under th© special concessions conditions. Both the Railway Department and the Union Company suspended their reduced rates for school children during the holidays period from December 15th to January 15th. Again the Union Company's fare ot 12s return from Wellington only applies to boys in parties of from two hundred to three hundred, and by coming as Cadets most of these boys can get down free in the Government steamers. By the time the schools have arranged to make the free journey in this way there are hardly likely to be sufficient boys able to make the journey at the Union Company's ratea in parties of two hundred. The Wonderland floral fete, which was to have taken place on Thursday next, has been postponed for a week, so as not to clash with the opening performance of the Besses o' the Barn Band.