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facfcured, which are excellently finished, very durable, and very cheap. A most ingenious automatic washing-machine, which ought to be used in every household, was shown in full working. It consists of an ordinary washing-copper, with a second copper boiler fitted inside, leaving half an inch between the two. The upper boiler is perforated at the bottom and at short distances round the edge, and the water between the two, boiling over through the holes into the upper boiler with great force, effectually dispenses with all rubbing or scrubbing, or handling of the clothes. I witnessed the machine in full work, and came unhesitatingly to the conclusion that if anything would wash a blackamoor white, that would. The invention and manufacture are both due to a working boiler-maker at Christchurch. In agricultural machinery flexible-tined harrows from Gore, Southland, a recent patent, attracted particular attention. This appears to be a most valuable implement, from its effectiveness, adaptability, cheapness, and remarkable simplicity A noble double-furrow plough, from Christchurch, was also shown, and a large assortment of dairy and domestic machinery, pumps, fire-engines, and other articles in iron. Some excellent garden-seats in iron and kauri timber, with ornamental bronzed-iron backs, made at Ashburton, were well worthy of notice. The exhibits of tinware were numerous and very good. This industry seems to be firmly established and rapidly expanding. Excellent specimens were shown of plain, crystallized, japanned, and painted ware, applied to all kinds of domestic purposes. Among the articles specially noticeable were preserve tins with lids made to be sealed with wax or fat, stamped goods, moulds, teapots, teapot hinges, and buttons in tin and brass, plain and japanned. This button manufacture deserves a word of particular remark. The buttons, which are exactly similar to the common imported metal trouser buttons, are made from the waste pieces of metal forming the refuse of the tin trade, which would otherwise be simply an encumbrance to be got rid of. The manufacturer stated that, though he had only recently begun this work, he already had large orders, and that a hundred men could be employed in the button trade alone. Good ridging and spouting, made in Ashburton; churns, meat-safes of excellent design aud workmanship, washers for fixing iron roofing, a new and useful local industry ; wire-work chairs and stands from Timaru, and an excellent combination bath and lavatory, made in Ashburton, also deserve mention in this department. Carriages were shown in great variety by Ashburton and Christchurch manufacturers, displaying unexceptionable workmanship, and a number of novel and ingenious contrivances. The lack of native hard woods suitable for this trade, and the desirability of establishing plantations of hickory, ash, oak, and elm, were again brought to my notice. My importunities to the Government on this subject, however, have been so persistent, and have hitherto met with such a kindly and courteous neglect, that I will not venture to renew them here. The exhibits of locally-made saddlery and hai'ness were admirable. In this trade, as in so many others, the local manufacturer easily competes with the importer in the finest class of work, but is beaten by machinery and cheap labour in the wholesale production of the commoner sorts. WoODWARE. The exhibits of furniture in mottled totara, honeysuckle, rimu, blackwood, oak, walnut, and kauri were displayed in a drawing-room compartment at one end of the main building of the Exhibition, and excited general admiration. The beauty of the native woods for the cabinet-makers' purposes is hardly to be surpassed, but an exhibit equally interesting with those of native woods in the grain was that of superb furniture made in a variety of designs in japanned, gilt, and glazed kauri, a wood which is so easily worked and so true of surface as to afford singular facilities for decorative and artistic furniture, the main cost of which is in the labour. Thus, a handsome black-and-gold sideboard, of large size, in exact imitation of Japanese work, and fit to adorn any room in the country, was exhibited as the result of fourteen days' work at Christchurch. A magnificent sideboard of antique pattern in rimu was also shown as a specimen of the economical application of cheap native wood. It was polished so as to bring out the rich grain of the wood, and the interior was highly finished in white pine. It was called a " clerical" sideboard, and contained deep bins for the port and claret, which are popularly supposed to form the staple beverages of the dignitaries of the Church. It did not appear to me to be suited to the clergy of this country but it was certainly an instructive illustration of the use to which the native woods may be put in a country where profuse household expenditure is the exception. Black-and-gold tripod flower-stands, mirror brackets, handsome bedroom furniture in kauri and white pine, canopied bedstead with spring mattress, and other articles of equal merit, all of Ashburton manufacture, were exhibited in this department; while from Dunedin came a large and useful cabinet desk of cedar. Two large blocks of mottled totara, from Peel Forest, showing in what part of the tree this peculiar grain is found, and displaying its beauties upon their polished surface, formed a most attractive exhibit. With these were sections of ribbon-wood, showing the separation of the layers, and accompanied by stripped lengths, capable of being used as bast by gardeners, or for the manufacture of baskets and other articles requiring a tough, light, and pliable material. An exceedingly beautiful collection of inlaid native woodwork from Christchurch, a number of fine specimens of fretwork in whito wood executed at Ashburton, wood carvings for the internal decoration of houses, Venetian blinds, caned chairs, and a number of smaller articles of use or ornament, added greatly to the interest of this class of exhibits. A great variety of specimens of artificial graining, displaying a high degree of skill, were also shown by Christchurch tradesmen. Baskets of all shapes and sizes made from osiers, and marked at very low prices, showed that this useful industry is fairly established. A set of strong, rough, but very shapely and serviceable baskets made at M®unt Somers, entirely of ribbon-wood, and also marked at strikingly low prices, attracted special attention by the novelty and ingenuity of the manufacture. Agricultural Produce. The exhibits of grain were not very numerous, but their quality was particularly fine, some of the samples, grown on the driest part of the plains, bearing testimony to what can be done by careful selection and good farming. Wheats were shown varying from 641 lb. to 67 Ib. to the bushel, oats