THE MELBOURNE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION.

Dunstan Times, Issue 982, 11 February 1881, Page 3

THE MELBOURNE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION.

'cos Curbing occkoos,’ ■— ;' ! ___ [Bv Oarxet Walch ] Tlioi'O are many grievances in connection | with the Exhibition. The favoriteism i shown to certain official employes ; the want of proper classification in various departments ; the inadequacy of the refreshment arragements ; the partial failure of the great organ; the hideous inappropriateness of the fountain; these arc evils to which I have already alluded. But there is one literally crying shame regarding which I have kept silent until constantly accumulating proofs force me to lay the, matter before the public. 1 allude to the sale and removal of jewellery exhibits from the building, to the great detriment of the trade generally, and our jewellers in particular. Seized of the facts of the case, having rayseilf tested the truth of the main points of the grievance, I am not dealing with any more hearsay matters, but with those accompanied by substantial proof. It appears then that the jewellers of Melbourne finding that their rights were being infringed by the number of small socalled exhibitors complained of this shortly after the opening of the Exhibition,: and ■ formed themselves into an association to endeavour to procure conjointly the justice denied to individuals. They ascertained beyond all doubt that large quantities of jewellery, much of it of the Brummegem sort, were being foisted upon the public at prices higher than better articles could be procured for at the Melbourne establishments, the buyers were being swamped with all kinds of inferior stuff, and the sale of genuine goods materially interfered with. They had no objection to the sale in the building of first-class articles, or even of the less artistic, not to say semi-worthless, stuff, provided the said articles remained in the Exhibition until its close. And here it is but right to say that the leading firms, British, German, American, French, and Colonial, have never given cause for complaint ; but that a lot of petty hucksters should drive a roaring trade, and be allowed to deliver their goods forthwith, was palpably an injury to the local trade, a misapplication for the uses for which the Exhibition is intended. A meeting of the leading jewellers oi Melbourne was accordingly held, resolutions passed, and the Secretary, Mr Vincent J. Willis, directed to write to the Commissioners. This he accordingly did, and eventually received a reply to the effect that licenses had been issued to certain exhibitors giving them the right of selling and delivering “ souvenirs ” of the Exhibition, such right being supposed to extend ouly to a few special articles not made or generally obtainable in Victoria. Some little show was made of restraining the hucksters in their traffic,, but those wily gentlemen had not travelled fifteen thousand miles to be baulked of their prey. They incontinently sot to work ; | had boxes made, and each labelled, “Souvenir,of the Melbourne Exhibition,” and thus set the injured jewellers at defiance. At the present time the “ little game” impudently is being merrily carried, on under the noses of the Commissioners, and, rotected by the inertness—not to use a harsher term—of the authorities, the peddlers in mosaics, cameos, articles de Paris, and what not, laugh at the remonstrances f legitimate traders. Now all this is surely very wrong. It is a grievance catling loudly for redress. Here we have a number of respectable tradesmen, paying heavy rents, contributing their share to the by-no-means featherlight taxes of the colony, and employing a large number of hands both as artisans and shopmen, we find, I say, these good fellow-citizens of ours, subjected to annoyance, provocation, and actual loss ; while, on the other hand, a flock of birds ofpassage of somewhat doubtful feather are picking up the crumbs that go to promote the Welfare, if not even to the necessary existence of the rightful tenants of the homestead. Why wo should import cuckoos to usurp our own nests is an ornithological puzzle which I, for one, cannot solve. Is it posssible that during his visits to Europe, the bctitled indefatigable, urbane, all-thingsto-all-men, Secretary, promised these objectionable privileges to those intelligent, not to say astute, foreigners ? Did he, in his anxiety to secure a goodly number of exhibitors, sacrifice quality for the sake of quantity ? Did ho, in effect, say to the curio-mongers of the Palais Royal of Florence, Venice, and other hotbeds of spurious art—“ Come to Melbourne, gentlemen ; come, to our Exhibition, and I promise you a field of operations wider than you have ever hitherto cnjoyel, No more lying-in-wait for chance travellers with more money than brains No more need to consign parcels of goods to tho Antipodes to bo sold as ‘ Enormous Sacrifices ’ in the colonial auction marts. We will provide yon customers in shoals. We will round up tho gam? ; we will set bait, and help you to spring your traps. You shall be rich beyond tho dreams of avarice. Only come, dp come, and help mo to make the Exhibition a success, a stepping stone to still further successes in the same line. Come, gentlemen, have no fear, I am the great I Am, and at my beck all tho Commissioners obeyl” Is it possible that the C. M. G. spoke thus, or used words to that effect? I trust not. Yet how account for this fearful influx df’hnoksters sorry ; this tampering with legitimate trade? i It is not for me to peer behind the scenes and pry into the secrets connected i with the “getting np" of such gigantic enterprises as National Exhibitions ; tny province is simply to criticise results, and, •criticising results in tbo present instance, I can only say that a shameful wrong has ■ been perpetrated upon a particular class, - and the sooner that wrong is righted tho i I bettor, for all concerned. J watph and i wait.