OPENING OF THE INDIAN AND COLONIAL EXHIBITION.

Kumara Times, Issue 2969, 8 May 1886, Page 2

OPENING OF THE INDIAN AND COLONIAL EXHIBITION.

[united press association.] Wellington, May 5. His Excellency has this day received the following telegram from his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales : lii forwarding the proceedings of the Colonial and Indian Exhibition by her Majesty this day, I should be glad if yon would publish them in a special issue of the Gazette. Address by his Royal Highness the Executive President to her Majesty the Queen on the occasion of the opening of the Exhibition. May it please your Majesty— As Executive President of the Royal Commissioners appointed by youi Majesty's royal warrant of the Bth November, ISS4, for the promotion of an exhibition of the British, Colonial, and Indian Empire, subsequently incorporated by her Majesty's royal charter of 10;h September, 1885, I humbly beg leave to lay before you a brief statement of our proceedings up to the present time. The general interest manifested in the display made by your Majesty's Colonial and Indian Empire at the Paris Exhibition of 1878. led me, as President ot" the British Commission, to express a hope that an opportunity might soon occur by which your Majesty's subjects in England would be enabled to witness the marvellous development which under your beneficent rule their brethren "and fellow subjects have i'.tiaii.eu throaohout so many portious of the globe, "it |

was, therefore, with the highest grati6cation that I accepted your Majesty's "radons invitation to assume the Executive Presidency of this Commission, the appointment of which by your Majesty has fiecn the means of making this hope a reality. The invitation which we were empowered to issue to the Colouial Governments and to the Government of India weie forwarded towards the close of the ye ;l r ISS4, and from the answers received it at once hecame apparent that this undertaking had obtained warm and hearty sympathy throughout your Majesty's dominions and the dominion of Canada. Throughout your Australasian, African, West Indian, and E'isteni colonies, in your Mediterranean possessions and elsewhere, grants were voted, and commissions formed and executives ap. pointed. That the work of preparation was undertaken with enthusiasm, and attended with success, is evident from the complete and varied collections which at present fill the building throughout which your Majesty has just passed. The lesponso received from the Government, of India was also of the most cordial character. His Excellency the Viceroy caused throughout the revenue and agricultural department instructions to be issued to every district of your Majesty's Indian Empire for the collection of objects illustrative of the art, manufactuies, and resources of that great realm. These collections which now adorn a large section of the Exhibition have l«een supplemented by generous contributions from their Highnesses the Princes of India, by collections the formation of which we ourselves have authorised, and by the contributions of private native exhibitors. We are desirous of bringing under your Majesty's notice our deep appreciation of the hearty interest manifested by the respective Colonial Governments in the Exhibition, and o f . taking this opportunity of stating how greatly we ire indebted to the commissioners appointed by these Governments, and to the executive commissioners ou whom the superintendence of the entire work of installation has devolved. We further desire to record the valuable assistance which we have received from your Majesty's Viceroy, from the Supreme Government of "India, and from the various officials who have so ably and thoroughly carried out their instructions. Our grateful thanks are also due to the Colonial Governments, to the Governments of India, to the Corporation of the City of London, to many city companies, and to the firms and individuals who have contributed ■

'o the guarantee fund. The fact that the list of subscribers not, only includes i iiose whose interests are likely to be specially affected by the Exhibition, but also comprehends every class of the community, supplies gratifying proof of the universal sympathy and interest which this undertaking has aroused. We venture to avail ourselves of this oppoitunity to convey to your Majesty our dutiful and loyal acknowledgment of the interest which your Majesty has been pleased to take in our labours, proved as it is by your Majesty's presence here to-day; nor can we resist a reference to a similar ceremonial presided over by your Majesty a few paces from this about 35' rears ago. On that memorial occasion, the first of its kind, the Prince Cou•<ort, my beloved and revered father tilled the position which I, fallowing in his footsteps, at however great a distance, now have the honour and gratification of occupying. Your MajQ sty alone can fully realise with what deep interest, my beloved father would, had he been spared, have watched, as ihe originator, the development of the exhibitions both in this country and abroad, and with what especial pleasure he would have remembered, as having f.r its object the prosperity of your Majesty's empire, the inteiests of which he had so much at heart. In the great Exhibition of 1851 your Majesty's Colonial and Indian possessions were indeed represented, but their importance was then but little realised, and their present greatness was at that time unforeseen. During the years that have elapsed since 1851°, far greater changes hive been wrought by the marvel 1 jus development of the outlying portions of your Majesty .s Empire. It is our heartfelt prayer that an undertaking intended to illustrate and record this development may give a stimulus to the commercial interests and intercourse of all parts of your Majesty's dominion ; that it may be the means of augmenting that warm affvetion and brotherly sympathy which is reciprocated by all your Majesty's subjects; and that it may still further deepen that steadfast loyalty that, we who dwell in the Mother Count! y share with your kindred who imve e!s>uhere so nobly doue honour to their uauie.

The Queen's Speech. I receive with the greatest satisfaction the address which you have piesen ted to me on the opening of this exhibition. I have observed with a warm and increasing interest the progress of your proceedings in the execution of duties intrusted to you by the Koyal Commission, and it affords me sincere gratification to witness the successful result of your judicious and unremitting exertions in the magnificent Exhibition which has been gathered here to day. lam deeply moved by your reference to the circumstances in which the ceremony of 1851 took place, and I heartily concur in the belief you have expressed that the Prince Consort, my late beloved husband, had he been spared, would ha ye witnessed with intense interest the development of his idea, and would, I may add, have seen wiih pleasure his son taking the lead in the movement of which he was the originator; and I cordially concur with you in the prayer that this undertaking may be the means of imparting a stimulus to the commercial interest and intercourse of all parts of my dominions, by encourag ing the arts of peace and industry, and by strengthening the bonds of union which now exist in every portion of my empire. Ode On the opening of the Colonial and Indian Exhibition, by Lord Tennyson, Poet Laureate. "Welcome ! welcome ! with one voice, In your welfare we rejoice ; Sons and brothers that have sent From isle, and cape, and continent, Produce of your field and flood, Mount and mine and primal wood ; Works of subtle brain and hand, Splendours of the morning land, Gifts from every British zovie. Britons, hold your own ! May we find as ages run The mother featured in the son ; And may yours for ever be j That old strength and constancy i Which has made your mother great j In our ancient island state ; I And where'er her flag may fly, ] Glorying 'tween sea and sky, ! Makes the might of Britain known. ! Britons, hold your own ! I Britain fought her sons of yore, Britain failed ; and never more, ' Careless of her growing kin, j Shall we sin our fathers' sin. j Men that in a narrower day— j The prophetic rulers they— j Drove from out the mother's nest i That young eagle of the West, j To forage for himself alone. Britons, hold your own ! Sharers of our glorious past, j Brothers, must we part at Last ? j Shall not we, through cold and ill I Cleave to one another still ? ; Britain's myriad voices call— ! Sons, be welded ! each and all | luto one imperial whole, One with Britain, heart and soul, j One life, one flag, one fleet, one Throne ! j Britons, hold your own ! \ And God, guard all ! 1 His Excellency has replied as fo!- I lows : ! " His Highness the Piince of Wale?., > Loudon.—The_ Governor and Government of New Zealand, on behalf of the Colony, acknowledge v/ich ress/eorfiii thanks the receipt of telegram. The-,' heartily congratulate your Koyal richness on opening the Exhibition, the . Buccess of which is greatly due to your generous exertions. A special Gazette will be issued forthwith." His Excellency has forwarded to her Majesty the Queen the following telegram : " Her Majesty the Queen. —The Governor and Government of New Zealand, on behalf of the Colony, most humbly tender to your Majesty their respectful thanks for the great honor conferred on Colonies by your Majesty opening the Exhibition." Wellington, May 7. The following telegram was receiver! by the Government from Sir P. C. Owen :—« May 4th—The Prince of Wales this day officially inspected the New Zealand section and was received by Bell, Hnast, and Puller, and examined with much inteiesfc and in detail the various sections of the Exhibition. He expressed his great satisfaction at the hearty co-op?vation of the Government of New Zen laird and the completeness of the arrangements."