THE GLOBE. SATURDAY. JULY 31, 1880.

Globe, Volume XXII, Issue 2008, 31 July 1880, Page 2

THE GLOBE. SATURDAY. JULY 31, 1880.

As will have been seen by the telegrams respecting Parliamentary doings, the House has struck off the vote in aid of the New Zealand Rifle Association. For some years previous to the last two the Government had—to encourage Volun-teering-—held annual prize meetings, which wore open to all enrolled Volunteers who succeeded in making a certain number of points at the preliminary competition. The carrying out of these meetings, apart altogether from the value of the prizes given, entailed a certain cost on the colony and trouble on the authorities, and, therefore, when two years ago the New Zealand Rifle Association was formed, the Government subsidised it to the extent of this £SOO, the Association holding the prize meetings in lieu of the Government. The Association has, no doubt, done very good work, and there will be many who will, perhaps, think that the vote might have been retained on the estimates, This is all very well, but the present state of affairs imperatively demands retrenchment, and these meetings cannot but be regarded somewhat in the light of luxuries. The time has now come to this, as well as other Associations and bodies hitherto dependent to some extent on Government aid, when ' they must be self-reliant. While it is true that the deprivation of a large portion of the annual revenue such as this must seriously affect the Association, we trust that it will not be allowed to die out altogether. It has done much during the period it has been in existence, and we hope, therefore, that the volunteers themselves will put their shoulders to the wheel, and keep it going. They can very fairly—as do other Associations —ask the general public to assist thorn, and no doubt such an appeal would be responded to heartily. Once get it fairly started on its own account and it will be proved that such an Association cannot fail to enlist public support, and it may bo that the withdrawal of the vote, instead of being an evil, may serve as the means of placing the Association on a firmer basis than before. But the volunteers themselves — who are the most interested—must take the initiative, and not allow the matter to drop.

The Managing Committee of the late Industrial Exhibition have decided to hand over the surplus funds accruing therefrom to the Association for Fostering Local Industries. This, of course, is only what should bo. The Association undertook the whole affair, and would—had there been a loss instead of a surplus —been obliged to find the money. Thus no one, we think, will feel inclined to dispute the wisdom of the course pursued by the Committee. They have, however, gone further than this, and accompanied the money with a reservation of £3OO of it for the purposes of another Exhibition. This is the point upon which we desire to comment, and we do it thus early so that, if it is carried out, plenty of notice will be given to exhibitors, &c. The effect of the late Exbibtion lias been to astonish oven the most sanguine believers in the success of our local industries. It has placed before the eyes of many practical and tangible proofs of the growth in our midst of industries and manufactures the very existence of which was to them unknown. To a great extent, however, it was confined to this portion of the colony alone. The shortness of notice, and, perhaps, an idea that the Exhibition was practically intended only for Canterbury, had the effect of deterring what we may call outside exhibitors nearly entirely. Some, it is true, did come, and the quality of their exhibits wont far to prove the desirableness of the scheme we advocate. What we should like to see considered is the holding of a New Zealand exhibition of local industries and manufactures. The great practical benefit of exhibitions such as the one just closed is to engender, by competition, a healthy rivalry and desire to excel in the various branches of industry. This, of course, is done even when only one section of the colony is represented. But it is to a much smaller extent than when yon have all parts in competition one with (he other. Not only so, but it affords the moans of comparing the growth and position of tho various local industries as existing in the different provincial districts. This, it seems to us, is a very important point, and one which ought to weigh very much with tho Association in deciding tho question. As to tho expense, they have already a very fair sum to start with, and not only can they roly upon tho very hearty support of the general public, but they would have a fair claim to assistance from the Government. Such an exhibition as we refer to would draw visitors from all parts of tho colony, more especially from those districts which are accessible by rail, aud a considerable amount of the money given would ho recouped in tho form of railway tickets. It is true that such an Exhibition would cost a considerable sum, but there can be no doubt about the fact that it would be a financial success if carried out properly. We gather from the remarks of the President and other members of the Committee that it is intended to hold another Exhibition some

time next year, and wo hope, therefore, that it will not ho confined to Canterbury, hut that, for the reasons we have stated, it will be a New Zealand one.