LAYING THE FOUNDATION STONE OF THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume III, Issue 548, 31 January 1882, Page 2

LAYING THE FOUNDATION STONE OF THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION.

His Worship the Mayor of Christchurch performed this ceremony yesterday afternoon. ; Mr Twopenny, in handing His Worship the trowel, said : —Mr Mayor, in the name of Mr Joubert and myself, I have the honor to ask you to lay the foundation stone of this the first International Exhibition, I believje, ever held in New Zealand. It may interest you to know that the total area, of the building, the first stone of which you are now going to lay, amounts to 188,376 square feet—the length being 668 feet, and the breadth 282 feet. The total space under cover will amount. ;to 114,200 square feet, of which 77,400 square feet will be devoted to manufactures, 27,200 to machines in motion, and 960 feet to art. An open space of 74,176 square feet will also be reserved for implements. I have given these figures to show you that the magnitude of the Exhibieion is likely to be such as to render it not altogether unworthy of the city and colony in which it is to be held, although it is in one semie a private undertaking, The Mayor having made a short speech, declared the stone well and truly laid; and an adjournment thereupon took place, at the invitation of Mr Twopenny, to a marquee, when, wine being produced, a number of toasts were proposed and drunk by the assembled guests, who included all the principal residents of the place. Amongst the toasts honored was that of “’Messrs Joubert and Twapenny, the promoters of the first New Zealand National Exhibition.” Mr Twopenny, in responding, remarked that in a certain sense it might be said that an exhibition was a big advertising medium, but whereas in ordinary advertising a manufacturer was able to say what he liked about his goods, and to puff them ; in the case of an exhibition everything was judged on its merits. He did' not merely

refer to the decision of the jurors, but to that far greater test, the decision of the public, which was enabled to examine everything that was put before it. He thought there could be nq doubt that if this Exhibition was of advantage; to the foreign manufacturers in enabling them to discover new markets, and to increase those already existing, that benefit would be equally felt by the colony of New Zealaijid, and the city of Christchurch, in so much as the increase in competition mi Ist lead to a redqction in the price to the consumers. The consumers got better article and at a reduced price. Further more, there was a direct benefit to the city of Christchurch from the large number of visitors who would be attracted to it, and who, he had no doubt, would spend many hundreds of thousands of pounds in the city :during the time the Exhibition was I open. (Hear, hear, and laughter.) It is understood that the contractor has undertaken to have the building ready by the ’ist of March.