THE MELBOURNE EXHIBITION.

Akaroa Mail and Banks Peninsula Advertiser, Volume V, Issue 452, 19 November 1880, Page 3

THE MELBOURNE EXHIBITION.

By Cosmopolitan.

Swallow and Ariell's golden syrup— -Now occupation for the Heathen ChineerPianoforte recilals—-iEsthetic Victoria. South Australia—Corn and Wine—Australia in 1851—The " Bush Scene— Patriarchal simplicity—An inexpensive costume—-A temple of tallow—lnstability of human greatness—A possible contingency—Sceno from Shakespeare's " Tempest"—Museum acquisitions— Artificial adornments.

SAvallow and Atiell's golden syrup is their pride and glory. Let us suggest to •them a valuable wrinkle. Jurors, who are but men, will have to taste a good many •compounds before they get through their ■task, and the Anglican race is v«ry individual and dissimilar m its tastes and proclivities; lioav rarely they agree about anything! Take any half-dozen Orientals —of whom we are so fond—and see how •alike they are, not jnly in appearance, but in taste and appreciation of the same food and drink. Well, Victorian jurors, do your tasting by proxy ! Procure half, a-dozen pig-tailed employes, as was done on one occasion in Paris. Place them all in a roAv, and administer to them quantum suff. of the fluids you ara engaged in investigating, and frame your verdicts accordingly. Take all the competitorsexhibits in turn. If the six Celestials make a grimace Avbile imbibing the sample, ] leave it out of the race. If the Chinamen's | faces assume a dubious expression, give ■ the exhibitor the benefit of tho doubt and j put doAvn honorable mention. When, ' however, the eyes of the heathen Chinee \ glisten, and he licks his lips, at once set • doAvn a bronze uredal; and, finally, if he [ breaks out into exclamations of delight i and passes bis right hand approvingly I over the region of the stomach, the sih'er j medal alone can do justice. We see in | near perspective, throe medals awardod to Messrs SAvallow and Ariell — one f*>r Golden Syrup, one for Biscuits, and one for the Bridecakes.

Pianoforte recitals have set in at the Exhibition. Dissertations on the drums and fifes Avill follow, and then wrangles on tlie violincello, bassoon, and Scotch bagpipes. The attendance is improving.

Victoria is going to be ast-thetic '. It is all along of the Exhibition. The apostles of King Cole of South Kensington haA-e done it. We shall expect the next young lady avc take doAvn to dinner in tight-cut garments of a chromatic scale of burnt sienna color, blending Avith subdued tints of rhubarb and magnesia, to sweetly whisper, Are we intense?. Oh my! has it vome to this. Shades of Murray and Flinders defend us ! Mrs Cimabuo RruAA'n has arrived. We caught sight of her yesterday, in clinging garments in Messrs Chiisloflo's pavilion.' And Mrs Ponsonby <le Tonikyns is coming. No more Australian mutton, duff, and dampsr. Hellenic concoctions of .butterflies 1 wings, syrup of passion-flowers, and.aesthetic tea, in future. * We have sent all our old-fashioned tomes to the second hand booksellers—our Tom Jone?, Martin Chuzzlewit, our choice edition of the Lake poets, Scott, and all those benighted people, and have ordered two yards of poetry of the. fleshly school to fill their vacant places—Swinburne, Itossoti, Songs before 'Moonrise, the Earthly Paradise, and Jones' ■•Nocturnes." We roar no more over Dickens-or Tom Hood, but exchange them for the lilies and languor, the ropes and rapture, of Swinburne. Our friend Gimclough has also been bitten with the craze—people bite each other—it will be sure to spread. We came upon him at home last evening, sitting on a Chippendale, unfolding to ad. miring friends, in euphuistic rhapsody, the decorative perfection of a tea-cup. Bon~nets are henceforth to be selected on definite principles—faded tints and subtle harmonies—the sky is too blue, the sea is too green. To-inorroAv Gimclough holds a council on the conflicting claims of the daisy paper, and tho sunflower, and one full of AvilloAv-branches and cockatoos. Already in his newly-fitted chambers a Murano chandelier hangs from the ceiling .in Avhich gla3B lias been tortured into a complication of bell-flo Avers and wriggling vipers, and his opalised Avine-glasses turn the golden tint of his famous sherry into j jjbe color of ink. Perhaps the Exhibition will, by-and-bye, be turned into Wra Colonial South Kensington Museum j Who knows? Judging from the exhibits, South Australia would appear to be_*par excellence the land*of the olive and tho vine. The Song of'ifolomon Avould apply to it—the Rose of Sharon—a garden of spices, be *ot extravagant epithets. Thousands of tons of olive oil are produced annually and from its high quality no great length of time can elapse before it becomes an article of export. All the best French j Spanish and Italian varieties flourish on South Australian soil. An immense variety of wines are displayed, some of tbem imitations of the old stocks, Madeira, Muscatel, Frontignac, and tho old familiar port and sherry. Although tho homo consumption is large, a considerable margin remains for exportation, and every Hrfgneron makes his own rai.sins and currants. Rich fruit of all kinds 13 shown in abundance.

Adelaide wheat has a great reputatioi in Mark Lane, and obtains a . higher prici than either British or American samples therefore the South Australian may b ( justly proud of the fact. The venerabh antiquity of the institution may be seen bj the display of ft prize medal for wheal gained at that patriarchal exhibition (remembered no*i*r, alas ! by a very reduced number only "the Great International Exhibition, 1851." The Commission tc England from South Australia in 1851 fills the same office here in 1880. Did we live in the days of; Joseph and his brethren there avohlil be no occasion to go down into Egypt to buy corn. In the Northern Territory, Egyptian corn is grown to perfection, as may he verified here, and sugar-growing is prosecuted on a large scab. Vermuth, a tonic bitter, id also exhibited. We shwuld like to eeeit-evcry-where-, and in alliance with seltzer water "on tap," as in Italian cities, Avherciu hot weather one can obtain at any bar a draught of Vermuth con seizor for threepence. The beauty of the climate and the industiy of the people are further illustrated by candied fruits, figs, prunes, almwnds, to say nothing of mountains of real jam, and pyramids of pickles. Art also puts in an appearance, and some of the productions are most surprising for a young colony. Tie adap i>n o 1 " the emu's eggs to artistic designs in deep green colour to the eilver ornaments in Avhich it is set, are all admirable. The Bush Scene is the greatest attraction in the whole Court, and is unpleasantly crowded. It represents the aboriginal period, when Wild in Avoods, The native savage ran. At the foot of a creek or gully, beside the trickling stream, are seen various stuffed specimens of the Australian fauna gambolling around, AA-ombats, rock Avallabies, kangaroos, opossums, together with some most unpleasant snakes and lizards. Perched above ore native birds, and beyond a distant mountain scene painted in distemper. On the opposite side is a wurley and a most unpicturesque place of abode it appears to be. The aboriginal paterfamilias has brought home a Avallaby which he has just speared, and his lubra, attired in native fashion, which it is needless to say has no suggestions of acquaintance with the Rue de la Paix, is, with her pickaninny contemplating the coming repast from the entrance to her primitive mansio*. This set scene, depicting the only life known for centuries in " this summer land of silence," is most interesting, and the lesson implied may be read in the triumphs of energy, enterprise and skill, in the midst of which this re\'elation of almost pre-historic life is set. The log hut of the pioneer, which' marks the point of departure, should not be OA*erlooked. There are many other exhibits Avorth notice, a'so one not down in the catalogue, viz.. a singularly fine example of a cultivated English gentleman in the person of the executive commissioner, Mr Samuel Davenport.

We have in our time made the acquaintance of a variety of classic temples, Greek and Roman—temples dedicated to Pagan divinities, Greek goddesses, and my tho logical heroes, but Aye do not remember ever seeing one before constructed of stearine, and dedicated to tallow. We have looked np our Lempriere, but fail in finding nny information concerning that mythic personage. Nevertheless, here is a temple of the purest Avhite alabaster-looking material, supported by carved and tAvisted columns, enriched by Corinthian capitals, supporting the architrave and entablature, and within, a classically draped figure holding up what might be termed " the light of the world.'' At each end stand female figures, draped in purest Avhite, who may be vestal virgins attached to the service of the temple, and the sides of the edifice contains niches in which are placed portrait busts, representing the Queen and various members of thw Royal Family. Over the AAdiole structure Avave four bannerets in crimson satin fringed with gold. At length we grew sensible of the fact that all this marblelooking erection was the exhibit of the, great Sandridge candle manufacturers Messrs J. Kitchen and Sons.

All the designs and architecture embellishments are formed of various colour candles and worked with a variety of patterns—the striped, the spiral, and the King Alfred. The last named have colored bands around them at different intervals, and these as they burn away, indicate the hours that have fled into the limbo of the past. Cake like bricks of transparent glycerine soap are built into a variety of forms and strengthen" the base of this imposing edifice. And all this architecture and sculpture id made of electrine stearine! a feeling of instability haunts us, and a fear that some warm morning Aye may come and find this fairy temple all melted aw«j-. We are assured that there is no danger; but wo wait until the midsummer days arrive, to see if we shall realise another Midsummer Night's Dream. Imagine all these divinities breaking into a cold SAveat; imagine stearine tears chasing each other doAvn their tallowy faces • the Queen and all the Royal Family Aveeping talloAvy tears together ; and then some day to come and (md this spot like tho remains of the Roman Forum or the Athenian Acropolis.

And Avbere it once stood to find only a memorial tablet, an inscription fr©m the

Tempest. " The cloud-capp'd toAvers, the gorgeous palaces, The solemn temples, the great globe itself ; Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve, And, like this insubstantial pageant faded, Leave not a rack behind."