THE PANAMA EXHIBITION.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1989, 20 February 1914, Page 8

THE PANAMA EXHIBITION.

'A NEW ZEALANDER'StIJIPRIS- ■ . SIGNS. . ' Sir,—l think that possibly tho. impressions "of a'New.'Zealaridor.about.the Panama Paeifiq Exposition may be of interest to you. A representative of the Exposition kindly volunteered to take mo to tlio grounds and show me the progress that had been made. . I rtiis very pleased to accept his offer, as at present the. grounds are dosed" t6 the public. 'After driving, some. twt ■tailcs'ivo sighted:.tho .grounds from the top of a hirl, rea<ihih.g them a, few minutes later.''; 1 I 'was first taken into the administrative office- to inspect the plana in order to got an idea- of the grounds as thej- will appear when completed. . The mail), entrance- consists of a tower Some 450 feet high",' flanked cm either side by a colonado of Roman design, 100 feet high, side covering about 200 feet laterally. • The towei consists of four or fiv© tiers, diminishing in area as it ascends, each platform being adorned with groups of statuary. The whole tower,is to be covered'with largo imitation' jewels, hulig on' hooks so that they shall vibrate with tho least breeze, whilst-at. night-time eol.oureo lights of. two billion candle-power will play on tho jewels.-■• I was showiii a email working, model ' of this 'jewelled toww, '.which certainly was most effective. On .passing through tho mail) entrance there is a. courtyard, practioa'tly a replica of that of St. Peter's iii Rome, only considerably larger,, the centre- consisting •of .-a sunken garden, ivitb. seating capacity in tier* for 7000. In passing through -this court oiW reaches tho Exhibition buildings proper, there are eleven of these; they art placed in•three-.lines'-of three buildings with one outlying,'a'6 either ond, thus making th© Exhibition itself very compact. ■:■>■-: : ~\ •'■ ■ ' . # Tho largest building;is the Machinery Sail, My guide'tcld me, with great gusto, the. following /details of this nail :—rt is tho largest wooden s.ti'«c.turc in the world, covering 16 acres. There are 8.000,000. feet of timber, 1500 tons of bolts and girders, and, what apparently is the climax,, five carJoads of nails. I didn't dare to'ask how many nails five car-loads were,, but was quite content to mention that I_ should have been deeply disappointed had I,' not .hoard . abb'ut ' the. nails. The buildings are .all of lath and, plaster ; and tho statuary .;is- composed of t i wooden frame covered with wire netting; on which is Jsme.arffi ■ a-thick coat ol wood shavings,'3niearcd with plaster,-tlu whole being nmsh'fed off with A smootl white elay. Some; of the statues are ol enormous sise.-as they need be, as jfnosl of .'thorn will be some iQQ feet or so fron: the ground. _'■.•'■ .Each State is tdhavoa buiidjug ol its own, as also is' ea'oh foreign country that cafes-to''.''.undertake-, the exponse of building, ; and ' filling.oiio. witt exhibits. . Tho size'-.'of. the grounds, it enormous., being 635 acres, : estending nlo.ng tho shore-, of tko harbour "for som* 2J miles, the: western'.extremity bcin| only about a -mile'from the entrance li the harbour, thi* famous "Golden Gate. i: The site of the grounds is certain!) beautiful, being, -in- a-huge basin. -A 1 the hack high' hills covered with' firs,' h the fofegrouridi'tho sea, and in tlio rieai distance hills of two.to tlirco t'housaat feet- in height. AM tlio. necessary plant! '■for beautifying the';'grounds are beinj grown in a nursery .garden of elevei; acres,, .._•__'■■ m'..

I was struck by. tK'e'many native New Zealand ' plants that, are tto bo used.: cabbage trees,'flax,-kofoiniko. .a.n't} many varieties of matipo, al) of, whichlooked wonderfully Wltliy. ■ ~ _ .A racecourse of,* mile in length is being laid 'down, and prizes amounting in the' aggregate to £40,000 a;fc to be ghfetf m> m\m vnm>wm&\ 'getting pf-'eou.Se"i-itl fee rigidly' suppressed, as 'it is all over, the, ."ILS.A. A great featufo .is to be a sort of peima.neiit show of .live stock, prizes amounting to, £4.0,000 being again a-Warded. My gtiide informs me this Will" be the greatest sljow of live stock that has ever .been held. Sixty-five acres are set apart for amusements.and side- shows-, tho man•agemont'expending £2. I QOO i OOO on this section olone. All.the ainnserr,c-nts are to be of a high and educational charac-. tor." I foar that if this is so, many of I them will cease 'to be amusing. Statistics again I the construction .of, budd.irifes, ground,-fete, is to cost £36,000,000,' "the exhibits.will wfiigh,7o,ooo tons, and . competent'a-ti-thoritifts estimate the at* tendance ffill.be 2£.millions of people* I ventured to Suggest that with such a ' small attendance tho .Exposition must prove to be a great failure,' hut was. then informed- that this was tho estimated number of.visitors from outsido California; whilst the estimate of the number of Califomians is ton millions. G'nb cannot, help admiring the marvellous pluck and'push of the inhabitants of a, city wliibh, lops than-semi years ago, was lying.in ruins, in, undertaking racii ail en'ormous .venture as is this ' Panama-Pacific Exposition. Associations are awarding ■hanctsbiub' cash prizes fpr nxhihits, the ,largcst.,a'inojint, awardsd ■by any society is that of £1600 by the llrfgiaii'Draught Borso Socibt}', Wnls.t two swine'associations eoiit.ribvite» eoliectlvely, £1300.: The mam idea of the stock' show is naturally "to exhibit, good specimens of various breeds of stock, especially cattle, in order to ediieato tho growers up to prodficp & good ck*s of hcef, At present the beef m Cajifornia is of very poor qu*l.ity and fearfully expensive.... One Qt two small consignments of Australian beef have been landed in Sail. -Kmucisco, and I believe had a very.ready sale at figures. far exceeding those given in pither Ausr ■tralia- of-New. Zealand,. The 'frozen meat industry! is quite unknown to the "man in the street'-' here, and I am ■convinced *that; an exhibit of meat, both frozen and tiiinedy'would interest, and also educate," : thV majority of visitors : to tnc E-spositibri.'- It would, 1 think, ,b.o'v. i ell worth while the New ZealandGovernment, 4ir some of our targe freezing ■comp.auies-j- forwarding a complete, and •representative''; exhibit of frozen and tinned.meats, and'some,of the byproducts of the am., ete.j ' :• B; H. PHARA2YN. [ San Franpisco. ',-_• .