THE PARIS EXHIBITION.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5378, 22 June 1878, Page 3

THE PARIS EXHIBITION.

(From the special correspondent of the Melbourne Argue.) Basis, April 11.

The wide space once occupied by the Champs de Mars, where the garrison of Paris was passed in review amidst the plaudits of delighted nursemaids and the admiration of the old rentier* who, having been soldiers in their younger days, were always to be found wherever any military manoeuvres were being carried on, has changed its aspect. Building is going on everywhere. The vacant building sites along the avenues have been secured by speculators, who have been convinced that they could make their fortunes during the Exhibition. Houses are rising out of the ground as if in obedience to the touch of some fairy’s wand, and lath and plaster are at a premium. We are to have restaurants and hotels galore. The architects who are deputed to examine the construction of each tenement intended for human, habitation have_ more than they can do. Each speculator is anxious to get his premises ready for the reception of customers .as soon as ever he possibly can, for he knows that the hundreds and thousands who visit the Champs de Mars daily must eat and drink. Envious eyes are cast upon those who have been able to throw open the doors of their establishments to the general public, for even the artisan in his white overalls constitutes one of those small fish innkeepers consider so sweet. Those who had taken up their abodes in the once neglected avenues round the Champs de Mars have been turned out of house and home. Announcements that furnished apartments can be obtained hang from every door, and the most exorbitant prices are being asked for the most indifferent accommodation anywhere within the immediate neighborhood of the Exhibition. The whole place has been changed, and the public display more anxiety than ever to watch the pUgteit daily hieing ntado, Wondering at times

whether M. Krautz, the Commissary-General, will ever be able to. keep the promise he has made by inaugurating the Exhibition in a complete state on the l-.t of May. There is no place in the world where building operations tiro c irriod on with such rapidity as in Kranoc. The plans are drawn up by the architect, and handed by him to the different contractors. These latter know exactly what is expected of them. Every part and portion of tho building entrn-ted to them is executed and fitted at the appointed time,, The ironfounder marks and numbers all his girders, the masons at Crcil and Chantilly hew all the stones beforehand, and wlton the materials arrive in Fai-is there is very little to be done by manual labor now that modern building is carried on by steam cranes, miniature railways, &c. The Exhibition, as far as the contractors are concerned, is on the eve of completion. The roofing has been on for some time, and the internal decorations are being done with the utmost rapidity. Flags and shields bearing tho arms of each country represented will ornament' the exterior of the building, and statues allegorical of each different department will relieve the monotony of the facade. Trains are continually arriving loaded with cases containing the different exhibits, and the carts which have been hired by the commissioners for the removal of tho different packing eases, &c., emptied of their contents, are wending their way in long trains to the warehouses where “empties” will be stored until they are again required at the expiration of tho Exhibition. A tram-rail has been laid down along the interior of the building, and the goods required in each section are taken to their destination on trollies. In fact, everything has been done to save time, owing to the many delays caused by the hesitation of those who had applied for and obtained spaces, and hesitated at the last moment, owing to legitimate apprehensions respecting European affairs. No one can be quite certain at the present moment as to tho continuance of peace so necessary for the success of such industrial contests as exhibitions, but sufficient confidence has been restored to enable people to send in their goods, and hope that, for the moment at least, all international diplomatic complications may be avoided. Australian exhibits are calculated to present more than an ordinary interest to French people. The British colonies have long since yielded supplies' of cotton, wool, and metals for France. Our large manufacturers at Elbeuf, Lirieux, and Ronbaix have been mainly dependent on Australia for their wool, and the firm of Messrs. Holden and Co. at Roubaix and Rbeims, can tell how many bales have passed through their hands for manufacture in France. Queensland cotton, declared superior even to American by those who are the real consumers, will be carefully exaraiued aud criticised, aud the excellent wool produced under a splendid climate aud in the midst of unparalleled pasturage, will engross the attention of more than one manuturer if the colonists have only refrained from attempting the scouring process, the secret of which according to European ideas is monopolised by a select few, whose long experience has enabled them to turn out the wool so as to suit the home market. The mineral products of Queensland and Victoria will furnish, when exhibited side by side with statistics, the proof of the prosperity which has accrued within the last twenty years to the colonies. Among the more active of colonial commissioners may be found Mr. J. Boothby, Undersecretary to the Government of South Australia, who is doing his very utmost to prepare the section under his superintendence for the Ist of May, so that the colony ho represents may command the attention of the jury owing to its complete organisation. The South Australian court, occupying a space of 40ft. by 36ft., adjoins Victoria. The front elevation consists of three bold arches supported by handsomely carved pedestals, an entablature elegantly designed in French grey aud gold, with suitable silk hangings, surmounted by the Royal arms and a trophy of colonial flags. The walls of the court, 12ft. high, are covered with maroon cloth with gilt cornicing, while no handsomer decorations could have been imagined than the oil-paintings of South Australian scenery, by G. H. J. Johnston and other colonial artists, or the photographs of public buildings in Adelaide, with landscapes, &c. In the centre of the court stands a handsome trophy showing a number of samples of South Australian wines in cut crystal decanters. There will also be a most recherchi collection of colonial jewellery made by Messrs. Steiner and Wendt, of Adelaide, almost side by side with the samples of quartz from which the gold so artistically fashioned is extracted. As a proof that gold is not the only valuable metal, Mr. E. Cooke has sent from Adelaide a fine lot of copper, besides which are fleeces, grain, &c., as if to show that the culture of the soil often produces more wealth for a country than minerals. Owing to the many disappointments experienced by South Australian exhibitors who entrusted their orders for show, cases to London makers, the people of South Australia are tho least forward among their colleagues, and Mr. Boothby will have more than enough to do to compel the Englishmen to keep their promises. The packing-cases filled with goods are now in the court only waiting the • arrival of the show-cases to be opened and disgorge their wealth. New South Wales, notwithstanding the efficiency and experience of its commissioners, is even more backward than South Australia, Only cases mark the space which has been allotted to Sydney, and the outer walls of the court have yet to be run up before any one can judge of the position New South Wales will endeavor to obtain for itself among the colonies represented at the Exhibition.

Victoria possesses a splendid space. The cakes of gold representing fourteen days’ working of the mines in the Bendigo District, and varying in value from £I6OO to £2200, are enough to make the mouth of any modern treasure seeker water as he longs to tread on that “Tom Tiddler’s’’ ground, which he is more than persuaded is strewn with gold and silver, since the pyramid representing seven and a-half tons of gold can be shown him as emblematic of six years’ working of the Crons Keef Mining Company. The shareholders of the Emma Mine must feel small when they see the results obtained by the Pleasant Creek Mining Company in six years. A Melbourne street cab will attract the attention of the poor Parisians, who, with their visitors, will on more than one occasion have to lament the paucity of public conveyances c msequent on tho monopoly the Paris municipality has thought fit to grant to a single company. People will ask, and not without reason, why we in Europe, with all our boasted civilisation, should not enjoy one-half of the comforts which are within the reach of colonials. Another Melbournian is represented by a “ buggy’’ so light and easy-going that one conld almost fancy that it was designed for travelling over roads without a horse. It is splendidly finished, and the jury, unless they are prejudiced in favor of the lumbering vehicles we patronise in Europe, cannot fail to notice the progress Melbourne has made in the art of carriage building. Ladies will remark the handsome cases containing the feathered races of Victoria, whose gaudy plumage has more than once been taken to form ornaments for dress or bonnet. Izaak Walton declares that “God never did make a more calm, quiet, innocent recreation than angling.” The brethren of the rod will find food for study in the cases which contain tho representatives of the finny tribe peculiar to the colony—some, if not all of them, striking for their colored scales and general appearance. Emu eggs mounted in silver as drinking cups, -uide-pochee, &c., beautifully ornamented and handsomely got up, attract the attention at tho same time ns other specimens of the silversmith’s work. The days when candles used to be consigned in such large quantities from England to Australia appear to belong to tho traditions of the past, as the handsome design of the Apollo Stearine Company meets the eye, challenging in every respect the make of candle manufacturers whose names have been banded down to us as household words. Tho Victorian court will be thrown open at the end of the present week, but the covers will not be removed from the show cases unless on special occasions until the grand opening day. Great progress has been made within the last few days with the Queensland court, which is now complete. The entrance is so arranged that passers-by are compelled An idea of what may bo seen within can he gathered from the contents of tho cases placed outside round tho walls of the court, indicative of the different departments into which tho interior has been divided. There are four entrances draped with kangaroo and wallaby skins hanging in festoons. Each door of ingress is so arranged that the eye of the casual observer sweeps right across tho court at angles, and the different products have been displayed with a view of compelling the attention of every one. Splendidly colored photographs on tho walls inside and outside tho court represent the various geological strata and appearances of the different districts; the phases of mining, showing how wealth is dragged from the very bowels of tho earth by sturdy sous of toil, who have, takeh up arms against 111-for-

tune ; views of the enormous tracts of grazing land or sheep farms, displaying the events which occur in the lives of those who have . wandered out, and are now making a name for themselves. One series of photographs, representing agricultural. pursuits, is intended to show the growth and treatment of the sugarcane, and will be greatly appreciated by more than one. There are elegant samples of marble, granite, and malachite, with a very complete collection of fossils. The mineral productions of Queensland, in their different combinations with gold, and the samples of auriferous soils and rocks, are interesting to the mineralogist, while the specimens of tobacco, sugar, wheat, flour, maize, and other cereals, with arrowroot, coffee, and coffee-tea, are sufficient indications of the immense and successful future in store for colonies which make such a brilliant debut at the pacific industrial and international tournaments which have taken place of late. The preserved meats of Australia are too well-known to every one to need any description, and the services they rendered to the French army during the Franco-Prussian war will never be forgotten, although the bare fact that the men were compelled for want of fresh meat to live on canned provisions has greatly prejudiced their success as an article of daily food. Several cases of native weapons are to be shown; but they cannot hope to command very much attention, as, go where we may in these days of progress, we find the savage has adopted the “ lightning tube ” of tho white man, and knows how to use a beadsight with an accuracy many might envy. The Queensland court owes much of its successful arrangement to Mr. W. H. Ashwell, the affable engineer to the Queensland agency, who is at all times ready to give every possible information and explanation even strangers may require from him, and whose skill and excellent taste are displayed in the manner in which he has planned the colonial exhibits. Everyone will regret that Tasmania has refrained from displaying the progress it has made, and from allowing us to examine its exports or learn its requirements. The absence of New Zealand is also greatly regretted. The colonies will make a most imposing show, and French people who have taken very little notice of what was going on so many thousand miles away from their own country, will be compelled to admit, in presence of the many proofs given them, that there are other places which can compare favorably in every respect with the land of the Gaul, which Victor Hugo has declared to be the capital of European civilisation.