The Ashburton Guardian. Magna Est Veritas et Prævalebit. MONDAY, DECEMBER 20, 1886. A MODERN COLISEUM.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume V, Issue 1436, 20 December 1886, Page 2

The Ashburton Guardian. Magna Est Veritas et Prævalebit. MONDAY, DECEMBER 20, 1886. A MODERN COLISEUM.

These are the days of mammoth enterprises, big companies, big buildings, big ships, big canals, big debts, big frauds and big smashes. Big exhibitions are the latest rage, and now ' there is to be a big hippodrome, which is to beat the ancient Roman Coliseum and which is to serve for a variety of purposes, from that of a monster circus to a metropolitan show-yard under glass. Its promoters are a powerful company, of which a Mr Wood is manager, and the vast palace of glass and iron which is now being raised at Kensington is to be known as the National Agricultural Hall, or, for short, as Olympia. The Company, it seems, owns 12 acres of freehold at Kensington, and the buildings will cover 4 acres, the great hall itself having a floor space of no less than 2Yz acres I This immense hall is to be seated in the form of an amphitheatre, the seating accommodation being divided into boxes, stalls and grand circle, with two extensive promenades, and will provide for no less than 9000 people. The great track in which the tournament displays will take place is 100 feet wider and longer than the largest similar track anywhere in England. It will take five minutes to walk round it. In such a space horses can go at their wildest speed, while a brigade of artillery may gallop at full sttetch, giving a reality to mimic warfare impossible in any other hall. Besides the great hall, there are to be many accessories in the way of side shows, and spices are to be let for exhibitions, shows, concerts, fetes, tournaments, contests, races, sports, balls, fairs, theatrical and equestrian performances, lectures, dinners, meetings, amusements, and entertainments of any description. The gardens of Olympia will also be a special feature and attraction and will contain musical promenade, lawn tennis courts, etc., the et. cetera including an artificial presentment of the Canadian national sport of tobogganing. This Brobdignagian palace of amusement is, it seems, opened on Boxing Day by a great Hippodrome Company from Paris, anent which Mr Wood supplies to the Pall A fall Budget the following particulars :—“ The horses, ponies, elephants, packs of hounds, stags, &c,, number more than 250. There are 300 artistes, assistants, and servants, and an orchestra of seventy performers. Among the properties and accessories is the carriage of His Royal Highness the Duke of Brunswick, dated 1803. It is a large gala chariot, similar to those seen in the German Court at the commencement of the present century ; also the carriage of the Khedive, made for the Viceroy of Egypt, Said Pasha, Ihe panels of which are of engraved crystal. This was awarded the first place at the Paris Exhibition of 1869. These two magnificent equipages are drawn by four horses, and are used to convey the artists round the track and to the 1 magic circle.’ It would be 100 far for them to walk from the manege. The harness room contains types of saddlery of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, and a collection of saddles and bridles from Spain, Arabia, and Turkey sufficient for the equipment of 400 horses. There are nearly 300 suits of German and French armour for men and horses, which serves for the representation of the great tournaments.” This monster Hippodrome is indeed said to be “as unlike the- ordinary circus to which London is accustomed as the Derby race is to the parlor game of that name. In one of the great comic pantomimes a railway is constructed within three minutes, and a veritable train appears with locomotive, t ender, and waggons, carrying more th.an a hundred travellers at express spec’<h 1° another of their representations s real stag hunt is represented with (.tvery regard to the truth of detail. The p-ack of hounds were lately the propcty of the Due d’ Aumale. One of the most exciting and popular attractions of the show is the revival of the chariot races which so delighted the Roman people in the Coliseum at the time of the Crcsars. Some of the chariots are drawn by four and others by eight horses. There are also exact repiesentations of the ancient Roman race (the Olympian race) —the 'post/ with thirty-two horses, in which the rider stands on two horses, racing thirty others yoked together.” All this reads like romance, but it is nevertheless veritable fact, and goes to show what wonderful strides the world is making even in the matter of its .amusements. The idea of providing some monster building, such as Olympia originated it appears with Colonel Burnaby, who sought for some metropolitan arena w.iere all the ‘ arts of war and peace* might be centralized and developed- His soldierly instinct made him long fpr a Coliseum-like structure, in which combatants might do full justice to themselves in a great military or other tournament. This germ has swollen to its present huge dimensions.