WEMBLEY.

Waikato Times, Volume 96, Issue 15359, 6 October 1923, Page 3

WEMBLEY.

RISING CITY OF CONCRETE. EMPIRE EXHIBITION. If the life of London came to an absolute stop to-day, one wonders what the New Zealander who visited the deserted city 500 years hence would think of present conditions as he would then set out to reconstruct them (says the London Times). The state of the leading streets would probably lead him to believe that his history books were inaccurately informed when they stated that in the Great War trencli warfare did not reach Ibis country. The ruins of Regent Street, arising anew from their ashes, would convince him that London had at some time been heavily bombarded, either from the air or from across the Channel. Such surmises would be easy, though inaccurate. But what would lie make of Wembley and of the site of the British Empire Exhibition, which is to be opened next spring, if he saw it exactly as it stands' at the moment? It is difficult to say. On one hand he would see, in its completed state, the greatest sports arena in the world. Gazing down from its terraces he would see the beginnings of stately buildings', cheek by jowl with wooden sheds and vast stretches of steel and concrete intermingled with trees which have been spared from the axe. Possibly he might decide to dismiss the whole thing as an attempt to construct the eighth wonder of the world—after considering how the modern City of Concrete might have compared with the hanging gardens of Babylon. Only those who live within hail of Wembley—and those of the hundreds of thousands of spectators who went to the Cup Final and had enough breath left in their bodies to take stock of the surroundings of the Stadium—realise that, silently and steadily, there is growing up a great new city which is bound to rank as one of the world’s show places and to which pilgrims from every part of the Empire will bo flocking in the next 12 months. The controversies that have raged as to the management of the Exhibition —now it is to be hoped things' of the past—have tended to obscure the fact that, amid all the hubbub, work has been going on all the time, and that this vast city of concrete is taking shape in a way that must every day make its designers proud of the great imaginative piece of work to which they have set their hands.

Imporla! Palaoes. For Wembley is not an exhibition of the kind to which, we have grown accustomed in the past. It is something much more. It is an attempt to bring the whole of the British Empire under the microscope. It is a symbol of the extent, the fertility, the possibilities of the Empire. It is an Imperial concern. To ensure its success is an Imperial debt of honour which all must help to pay. The first impression of the exhibition as one sees it to-day must inevitably be that the task is so gigantic that confusion cannot be avoided. One sees one building practically complete, another scarcely started; a lake being excavated, and a bridge being built over the water that is not there Some trees are being felled; others are being carefully protected from injury. Roads are being.made; what seems to be a coal pit is being excavated. But as one watches one comes to realise that these are but component parts of one definite plan. The world’s biggest jigsaw puzzle is gradually being shifted into position, and every operation, which at the moment appears to be absolutely isolated, really goes towards the completion of one part of the puzzle, which will presently be put together. It is a labour of Hercules, but it is a labour with a definite objective in sight.

Alreay the visitor can see something of the impressiveness of the two-great halls, the Palace of Engineering and the Palace of Industry, which stand on either side of the central avenue. The actual buildings, of concrete and steel, like the rest of the exhibition, are practically complete. The Palace of Engineering, with its gross area of just under half a million square feet, is probably the largest concrete building in the world. One might despair of its ever being filled .with exhibits were it not for the fact that most of the available space has already been allocated and that the different sections of the. engineering industry are competing with each other to make the most- atr

tractive display. The small boy who wants to see all the wheels go round will be able to spend the whole of next summer in the Hall of Engineering—and even then his wish may have to remain ungratiiled. Already railway lines are laid between the various aisles. Before these are covered up and hidden from veivv they will have been used for bringing direct to the Hall exhibits from all parts of the country. The Palace of Industry, which is not quite so large—covering a mere eight acres —Is in a more forward state than its bigger brother, and it is possible to guess what imposing displays' 'can be made by the industries, which are to arrange their own exhibits. The cotton industry, for instance, proposes to erect a mill, in which the visitor can see the whole process of cotton manufacture from beginning to end. The broad arrangement of the building, by which it is to be divided into a number or smaller halls, eacli devoted to a particular industry, already promises to be very effective.

Dominion Efforts. From Hie fact that they are in so forward a state, the Palace of industry and the Palace of Engineering naturally command most attention at the moment, but already one is able to realise that the buildings to be erected by the Dominions and the Crown Colonies will be no less impressive. The site of the Australian building, by itself as big as Olympia, has been cleared, the foundation stone has been laid, and the levelling process is nearly complete. A whole army of workmen are busy with the Canadian Pavilion on the opposite side of the central avenue, and such good progress has been made with the Indian section that much of the steel-work is already in position. India, obviously, is destined to add its own particular note of beauty to the general scheme of the exhibition. Soutli Africa, New Zealand, Malaya—wherever one turns at Wembley one sees signs' of Imperial activity. The exhibition will indeed put a girdle round the earth, but lie will be a confirmed optimist who hopes to see anything of this modern Puck’s tour in 'forty minutes.

The imposing entrance to the exhibition, with the colonnade of shops which debouches from it, is' almost ready. It is of concrete, like everything else —rfor Wembley is a triumph for concrete. Work in the amusement park is well under way; for the exhibition, though it is a great Imperial object-lesson, must have a lighter side to which Ihe visitor can turn alter tramping through the miles and miles' of this modern maze. In every direction the work of preparation goes on with orderly precision. One cannot fail lo ho impressed with Ihe enthusiasm—and, in most eases, the youth—of those who are evolving the exhibition.. Tlncir desire is 1 ,JLIISIL wiljrh has.

already been, expressed by the President, the Prince of Wales, “to unite to make the exhibition a success worthy of our race." They have a heavy task before them, but they are not likely to fail, for they are working for the British Empire—and when the results are seen the Empire will be grateful,