PHILADELPHIA EXHIBITION.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXI, Issue 4812, 24 August 1876, Page 6

PHILADELPHIA EXHIBITION.

DESCRIPTION OF THE NEW ZEALAND COURT, The following description of the New Zealand Court, written by Dr. Hector, C.M.G., and read at the meeting of the Wellington Philosophical Society on the 29th July, is exceedingly interesting ; The New Zealand Court in the Philadelphia Exhibition is an oblong space, with 25 feet frontage to the main corridor that traverses the entire length of the building, and extending in depth 64 feet, so as to have a second frontage to a second corridor. On the west side is the New South Wales Court, and on the east the courts of Jamaica and Bermuda. The space is enclosed in a uniform manner with the other Australian courts, the commissioners having joined in one design and contract (with the exception of -Queensland). So that Australasia thus combined forms a striking feature in the exhibition. .The coloring is a

delicate French grey,picked out with-blue and black, "and the courts are further decorated with flags and' baimerets, affording bright points of .color that relieve the general neutral tint ; Over the entrance is a Maori carving, supported by taiahas .and mats, and with the “Maori Jack” over the New Zealand flag, which is; supported on either, side by the Stars and Stripes and Norwegian flags. •Entering the court from the main corridor, In the centre I? a handsome plate glass case 7ft. high and 4ft. wide, with four glass shelves. This case is secuhrd to the floor, and is specially fitted for .the security of its valuable contents, which comprise about 160 samples of golden sand,nugget9, and auriferous quartz specimens from the New Zealand goldfields. The sam-ples-are contained in glass-and ebony cups, and are marked in accordance with the printed catalogue, which describes their assay, value, and other qualities. Cards giving statistics of the goldfields are also placed in this and the intimate structure of the golden quartz is illustrated by a beautifully polished specimen exhibited through a large magnifying glass. This exhibit is of great interest to practical miners and mineralogists, and .attracts so much attention that a barrier has been re quired to keep off the pressure of the crowd. In the upper part of the case are a series of models illustrating the mode of preparing tho gold for export, and especially Millar's ingeniously simple process for removing the silver by the injection of chlorine gas into the molten gold. The'statistics accompanying the gold state that in 1874 there were 12,948 alluvial gold mines, producing gold valued at 6,470,315d015., and 2119 quartz mines, the value of whose production was 1,7 45,000d015. In the rear of tho gold case is an iron safe, to which the more valuable specimens are removed at night. On each side of the central space ef the court is a screen 17ft. long, covered with water-color sketches and photographs of New Zealand scenery, by W. M. Cooper, Deveril, Burtou, MoCombie, and other artists of note ie the colony ; also sixty sheets of New Zealand ferns, mounted by Hay, of Taranaki. In the centre of the court is a huge gilt pillar, 25ft. high, representing the yield of the New Zealand goldfields since 1862. This pillar, which towers above every other object in this part of the building, represents the bulk of 246 tons of 23 carat gold, or 497 cubic feet, valued at £30,810,137, or 151,271,293d015. gold, all of which information is written on the sides of the pillar in bold characters, and is eagerly transferred to the note-books of hundreds of visitors.

In front of the pillar is a small relief map of New Zealand, modelled and geologically colored by Dr. Hector. Still continuing down the centre of the court, is a trophy of large blocks of coal and minerals, surmounted by tall glass cylinders of petroleum from the East Cape. Also another trophy of polished timbers, some of the large slabs of kauri, rimu, and totara being very attractive. Between these trophies and a side door is the skeleton of a large moa bird, lent by the Smithsonian Inititute, and originally sent from the Canterbury Museum by Dr. Von Haast. Continuing to the back of the section, is a table case 14ft. long and 7ft. wide, containing samples of hams, soap, candles, glue, grain, veneer timbers, tan barks, wine, beer, sauces, &c., and surmounted by a magnificent collection of all the varieties of kauri gum as sold in the American market, and eight different kinds of varnish which is made from it by Felton and C»,, of Philadelphia. _ Against the walls of the court on each side are three handsome upright cases of walnut wood alternating with ebonised table cases. In the first on either side of the main entrance are placed a selection of beautiful articles of ladies’ dress, manufactured from the feathers of seabirds by Liardet, of Wellington. Over these on one side are suspended the plates from Dr. Buffer's great work on the ornithology of New Zealand, and on the other groups of photographs of Maoris, all mounted in inlaid frames, which show to great advantage. The first upright cases and the table coses in front are occupied by a most interesting collection of Maori mats made of feathers and flax, and by implements of stone, hone, and wood, forming a very instructive ethnological series, part of which has been lent by the Smithsonian Institute, from collections brought by the Wilkes’ expedition ef 1839 and the Transit of Venus expedition of 1874. .

On the left hand follows a long glass case, containing a classified series of the minerals and ores found in the colony, over which are hung geological maps and sections. The next case is filled with an exhibit of thirty-one kinds of tweed cloth, made by Messrs. Webley, of Nelson," in front of which has been placed a series of the works published in the colony, handsomely bound. The remainder of the west side of the conrt is devoted to phormium fibre in all its forms of preparation and ..manufacture, from delicate textile fabrics to large hawsers, the coils of which are’ piled up in several great pillars. On the opposite side of the court is a range of glass cases, thirty feet long, containing selected fleeces of wool, the bulk of which, and also the grain, is shown separately in the Agricultural Halh Nailed up to the wall over part of the wool cases is an extensive exhibit of leather by T. Wilson, of Canterbury, and, in a good light, Mundy’s celebrated series ot photographic landscapes, and Sealey’s views of the Southern Alps, have been grouped round Dr. Von Haast’s elaborate map of the glaciers and mountain system of Canterbury. H. Severn’s panoramic views of the Thames goldfields is also against the wall, while in various vacant places other maps and views and fifty sheets of Auckland ferns and twelve exquisite views of the Botomahana geysers, by McCombie, of Auckland, have been suspended. The total nnmber of views exhibited in the court is 549, all of which have been specially mounted in walnut by Mr. Creamer, of Philadelphia. Over the centre line of the court are suspended two large maps of the colony, by Dr. Hector, the one geological and the other physical, contrasting the present surface features with those of later tertiary times. . The area of the New Zealand Court is 1600 square feet, and the number of exhibits entered is 1114. J. Hector. Philadelphia, June 6.