THE MELBOURNE EXHIBITION.

Akaroa Mail and Banks Peninsula Advertiser, Volume V, Issue 465, 7 January 1881, Page 3

THE MELBOURNE EXHIBITION.

(By Garnet Walch.)

Tho rosea— A paltry affair—Sweets and sours—Ever foremost—-Pluck and perseverance—lnside and out—A promise.

Near the centre avenue of the Exhibition between Messrs Kitchen & Son's magnificent stearine temple and Messrs It. Harper & Co.'c spice trophy, is the extensive exhibit shown , by the Red Cross Pieserving Company. The principal case is 22 feet x 24 feet, and stands some 20 feet high. It contains an assortment of the articles now manufactured by the company. To what a wondrous variety these articles extend may be gleaned from the following condensed summary. Thus, we have some fifteen kinds of jama in one-lb tins, and in those handy little "picnic 1, tumblers; jellies in similar the same preserves in jars up to 56-lbs w ght ; bottled fruits—marmalade' —tart fr i in tins—tomatoes similarly treatod—pi -kles of all kinds, including the Orient and Cuzco, (pickles specially mado and exhibited by this company)—sauces in bewildering variety, from plain mustard sauce"to Ihe novelties known as '■ Sorrento " Exhibition ,1 and Red' Cross. Clmtncys of nppetiainjr appearance and mggeslive titles—and regiments of other bottles, jars, and boxes, containing, inter alia, lomon, orange and citron candied peel, hon?y, potted meats, bloater paste, anchovy paste, essence of anchovies—peas—garlic, chili, and herb vinegar*, table salt, etc.,

etc., etr., ad Infiaitum,

Truly this i>s an exhibit of which any country might be proud, nnd when 'we learn that'the whole o£ this is the outcome of a few years Bteady industry and perseverance on the part, of Mr Marcus Robotham, tho prime promoter of the Red Cross Company, we cannot too highly eulogise energy, persistence, and ta-t which he has brought to bear upon the business. Speaking from my own experience, I havo noticed during my numerous extended trips throughout Victoria during the past two years that the Red Crosß brand wfie making its way on all sides—but it requires ench a (out ensemble as one gets at the Exhibition to give a real notion of the amount of work actually done by the company.

And now a word or two as to the outward appearance and—more important —inward took and taste of the articles— Firstly, Mr Robotham, who is evidently a firm believer in the best of everything, has adopted a handsome style of glnzol labol, printed in five or six colors, and bear ing the manly Anglo-Saxon motto " Ever Foremost" surmounting the Company's familiar red Cross, with the stars of our Southern constellation showing: at its centre and four extremities. This divice forms the chief feature of all the numberless labels are wrappers which ornament tho tins, bottles, jars, boxes, and other packages. As to the interior. Look Jhrough the glass walls of a bottle of Red Cross pickles, and you will see vegetables which Crosse and Blackwell would give half their fame to be able to procure. Oden a tin of jam or jolly, and you will find amber or ruby proof of well selected fruit wedded to crystal sugar. And as regards the taste, I myself have at different periods sampled many of the pickles, sauces, chutneys, jams, jellies, etc., made by this company, and I hereby unhesitatingly affirm that not only are they excellent, but that they are in many

respects superior to similar articles ex

ported from English firms who have been in the trade for upward o£ a century If you don't believe me, send to.your grocer

and try., i

Now, 1 liave said thus much about the Bed Cross Company, because not only do I admire the pluck with which Mr llohotliain lias worked up thewhole afinir J'rom very (small beginnings, but I recognise in the manufactory a direct means of employ went for 250 hands, and an indirect (.ttJiii-cc Of revenue for some hundreds cf

• others, such' as market-gardnere, fruit growers, and the like ; in short a noble industry, daily developing and extending, and destined. I believe, to be one of "tie most important in tho Australian c ilonies. If I c;;n find time to get some kind fiiond to introduce ins to Mr RoWotliam, I lmwt p>.v a visit to the Red Cross factory at South Yarra, and if the E.litor of the Mail is willing, and yon, my dear readers, do not object, why I'll give you a description of the style in whic ■ it is done thereby enabling you, each in your household, to take up and bear your own special lied Cross.