PACKING UP THE EXHIBITION

Dominion, Volume 33, Issue 189, 7 May 1940, Page 6

PACKING UP THE EXHIBITION

Proceeding - Apace DEMOLITION OF STANDS FAR ADVANCED A desolate scene, the Centennial Exhibition was yesterday in the throes of packing-up. The gay flags were for the most part furled, the grounds overrun with motor-lorries and workmen, the buildings already stripped of almost every easily portable article. The big courts rang, not with the clamour of happy throngs, but with the raucous hubbub of hammers, as lightly-built stands were quickly knocked to bits. Daylong a procession of empty motor-lorries streamed in through the main gates,- and returned laden with curious-looking cargoes of assorted merchandise. By dark yesterday many of the smaller stands were already completely demolished. The general manager, Mr. C. P. Hainsworth, said he thought that at the present rate, in three days almost all the easily portable exhibits wouid have gone. The exhibitors were allowed a month in which to remove their goods and chattels, but few of them would take as long as that. The only exhibits likely to take long in removal would be such heavy machinery as needed the floor specially strengthened to permit its removal. One or two of the more elaborate and more substantially constructed stands would take slightly longer to demolish. Close scrutiny of outgoing traffic was maintained by Customs and Exhibition officials.

While there was little external sign of the work of destruction, except for a party of men engaged In dismantling the Jack and Jill, the scene in eyery court and pavilion was a busy one. Everywhere the easily packed articles and furnishings were being removed, and there were few exhibits that any longer presented an. attractive appearance. Model Railway’s Last Bun. In the Government Court, a barrier had been erected so that check could .be kept of the removal of the many valuable departmental exhibits. The central fountain had been pulled to bits, the telegraph exhibits were being shifted out, the schools collection of handcrafts carefully packed. Linoleums were being taken up. A spot of brilliant light, the model railway was running for the last time in full dress, under the recording eye of a cinematograph camera. There was a certain air of pathos iir seeing this favourite display still carrying on in the midst of the general confusion. Dr. Well-and-Strong was discreetly silent, ashamed perhaps of his closing night behaviour, when he was seen staggering round his stand attired in a straw boater, singing “Roll Out the Barrel” and other intemperate ditties. Apparently some of the young attendants in the court had prepared for the occasion by getting ready some more hilarious if less educational records than the robot’s usual repertoire. Maori Carvings Carry On. The Maori carvers were still hard at work yesterday—harder at work than usual, for they were not distracted by members of the public asking what wood they used and what was the meaning of the designs. They have still some dozen panels to complete for the carved house, before it is transferred to Christchurch as a Centennial Memorial meeting-house there. They expect to continue at work at the Exhibition for some weeks to come. Quietest of the courts, the Dominion Court stood empty, sombrely lit, with the furniture and fittings already removed from most of the reception rooms. In the Southland reception room, liveliest perhaps of all the reception rooms a week ago, the beautiful beech panelling had been torn down, and the moose and wapiti beads removed.

The Women’s Court was rapidly being packed away; the articles of the loan collection prepared for return to their owners, the unsold specimens of crafts and handwork being sorted and stowed away. The North Island hut, purchased by Lady Roberts for presentation to' the Early Settlers’ Associa tion, was boarded up. In Playland one or two of the sideshows were being dismantled, and the Jack and Jill was already well advanced in the process of being taken down. Otherwise, there was compara tively little activity in this part of the Exhibition. The Catholic Pavilion was being pulled down. Part will be used to complete the Catholic Hut at Trentham military camp. The historic articles will be returned to their owners. The sculpture, “Maori Madonna,” by Miss Margaret Butler, Wellington, will be sent by request of Archbishop Panico, Papal Legate to the recent Eucharistic Congress at Wellington, to the world exposition of sacred art at the Vatican City in 1942.