The New Zealand Tablet THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 1906. THE EXHIBITION

New Zealand Tablet, 22 November 1906, Page 21

The New Zealand Tablet THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 1906. THE EXHIBITION

HE New Zealand International Exhibition was § named in hope. l^he international character has not been achieved, for the nations (.meaning the foreign nations) are not playing in our Exhibition yard ; neither are they swinging oii our Exhibition gate. The l>ig sliow in I-lagley ' Park, Christchurch, is in reality an Empire Exhibition — but an Empire; Exhibition of first-class interest and dimensions, and- the finest that has yc"t been <. set up in any part of Australasia. Fourteen acres of buildings rise beyond the' gree'nbankecl river from among the tall trees ' Where is the pride of summer— the green prime — The many, many leaves twinkling '. The framework of the main building ate \ip 3,200,000 feet of goad red pine from, the West .Coast, ,tiie roof 250 tons of galvanised Iron, the cornices, paxapets, etc., 20 tons 61 stamped steel, and the whole structure^ tern-, porary though it be, involveV a cost, of some £90,000. And with the artful aid- of festuccoline, the long and handsome facade— in the French Renaissance Istyle—presents a massive and permanent , appearance ; .and .by day in its snowy whiteness, and by night with its * architectural lines picked out by thousands of "electric lights, it is a notable landmark as it Rises' out of the trees in the flat landscape. ' . - The Exhibition grows upon the visitor. After " two or three days of tramping and peering, "otic ; -has yet much to see. The bigger features naturally secure first attention 1 : the splendid Canadian Court (21,180 square feet) ; the .British Court (23,760 square . feet),.; the • Tourist Department's fine quarters, with'4ht>ir.magnificent " display of stags' heads ; the Railways " exhibits (which include the firsir and the latest engines .built in New Zealand— the former an improved ' Puffing Billy ', the latter, a ,fine four-cylinder balanced locomotive^ weighing in working trim 72 tons). Other outstanding features of ,the. Exhibition are the Australian .Courts; the yarious • Provincial .Courts ; • the Jlonie';. Industries Section (in which some of our- convents^have fine displays) ; the ,' Fernery'; the Art Gallery ; the Maori Pa; and'- Won- ■ >-derl!and, with "it's fun and .frolic and gxotes-quefiesV \ln the Pa there are some splendid specimens- of , ofti Maori • carving: But'onits defensive- side;- -it -is- -somewhat of a "' disappointment. ••> Local r requirements compelled certain ■departures- from the true ground-plan, and - the - present sleitder palisading, coupled with v the 'unavoidable flatness "of the: site,- gives an- inadequate -idea o£ .the defensive strength of the old-time Maori fort' in the~ days" before "the- musket^ came. - Despite these partially unavoidable

drawbacks, however,- this' effort to' reproduce I ' the 'conditions of- the recent ,S'f6nc ;,Age' .of trie Maori .presents sufficient features of .interest'- -and .novelty. ; to ,make the Pa one of the chief attractions '^of the Exhibition. -.'• 1 "' "' "• ' ' 'i ; ' , "<•••- •« lj ■ ' In >the matter of ,_eont.rol, the.; Exhibit-ion' has passed through experiences 'akitf« fw those which old 1 -' 'physicians u'se-d to'terrri ' growing J^ins '-MUie pains of adaptation. This stage seems, however, "t.q '\ liaye* been safely- .passed. The great enterprise seems now to -be-on ,hhe - way to achieve the full nleasurc of 'success that it's promoters anticipated. And '' ' When the shore -is won at last, Who will counti the billows past ? '