CHAOTIC SCENE

Dominion, Volume 33, Issue 190, 8 May 1940, Page 8

CHAOTIC SCENE

Exhibition Reduced To A Mere Shell WORK OF DEMOLITION AND REMOVAL Rapid progress was made with the demolition of the Centennial Exhibition yesterday. By the end of the day the courts presented an even more dismal and chaotic sight than on Monday, floors and corridors strewn with wrack and debris, and carpenters, packers and carriers busy among the ruin. Thougu little external change in the appearance of the place has yet been effected, the Exhibition as such has already gone out of existence. It has been reduced to a mere shell, stripped of the contents which lent it significance. The only court still presenting something of its original appearance is the Dominion Court, where so far the modelled countryside is etill intact. The reception rooms, however, are now almost entirely vacated, and the luxurious furnishings have been removed.

The secretary of the court, Mr. E. M. Bardsley, said that most of the valuable models would probably be returned to the provinces which subscribed for them. The models of the four main cities, for instance, would be returned to tbeir respective centres. He could not say to what ultimate purpose they would be put. The fate of the Wellington one would be decided by the Wellington provincial committee, of which also he was secretary. Demolition of Waitomo Caves had not yesterday begun. The cabaret also remained intact, since it is intended to continue to operate it for some time to come.

In other parts of the buildings, however, the scene was one of the greatest activity, and a week will certainly see the greater part of the evacuation completed. The Port of London Pavilion’s interesting exhibit was being packed ready for shipment back to London The Port of London Authority representative in Australia and New Zealand, Mr. T. R. Toovey, will then return to his headquarters in Sydney. He expressed satisfaction with the keen interest shown by visitors to the pavilion, which he estimated bad been seen by some 300,000 people. Miss M. B. Ogden, in charge of the Plunket Society’s pavilion, said she understood the building was being disposed of by tender. It was not intended to re-establish it elsewhere in the city as a working Plunket centre, in the same way that the Free Kindergarten building is to be re-erected in Newtown as a working model kindergarten. Miss Ogdeu said the exhibit had proved marvellous propaganda for the Plunket Society’s work. Hundreds of thousands of visitors had been through it. There were comparatively few overseas visitors to the Exhibition, but those who had come had expressed great interest. The surprising feature, however, was the interest shown by New Zealanders, whom one might have supposed familiar with the work of the society. The opportunity of visiting .the pavilion was taken by many fathers, who would not have visited Plunket rooms in the ordinary way, as well as by many doctors, nurses, teachers and students interested in the work from its educational aspect. Though the pavilion afforded mothers the services of an actual Plunket centre, the most important side-of the exhibit was its educational side; it set out the full scope of the society’s activities, and the facilities for demonstrating the Plunket methods and principles were such as were possessed by few working Plunket centres.