The Exhibition.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 2372, 23 October 1880, Page 2 (Supplement)

The Exhibition.

INTRODUCTION. “Labor omnia vincit.” Several Intercolonial Exhibitions have been celebrated in Melbourne. The first was held in a hideous glass building, which was built for the occasion near the old Treasury, in West Melbourne. The exhibits upon that occasion were of a most limited character, the most attractive being a veritable English robin, around whose cage eager crowds assembled, glad to recall home memories and

associations by gazing upon the little featheri-stranger. The last Intercolonial held in the hall attached to thePuhlic Library, and they -who remembered the first and inspected the last were well able to realise the astounding advance which the colony had made in the arts and manufactures of civilisation. But it had long been felt that Victoria had now so far progressed that she was justified in the ambition to invite from all parts of the earth those exhibits of industrial results, by the exchange of which for our own products increased prosperity would be assured. The idea, once suggested, was eagerly taken up, and generally advocated. New. South Wales became animated by a . similar impulse, and, although there were many influential persons there who did their best to crush the movement, it was ultimately carried out with success. This result, we may remark, was largely due to the strenuous advocacy of Sir Hercules Robinson, whose keen and practical mind at once grasped the advantages which, sooner or later, must result from these International Exhibitions. Foreign nations were informed of the matter, and the responses were at once a crushing teply to those carpers who had foretold the iutter failure of the enterprise. The Sydney Exhibition was held, and, without doubt, the feffect will be to largely increase the commercial resources of New South Wales. | With the natural audacity of a country Iwhich, so to speak, may be regarded as the Spoiled child of Fortune, Victoria resolved to outstrip the efforts of her elder sister. A large Sum was voted by the Parliament for the coujstruction of a suitable building, for the design lof which Messrs. Reed and Barnes were the Successful competitors. After considerable Jdispute, it was resolved that the edifice—a permanent structure—should be built in Earlton Gardena: a site that has at least this advantage, that it is central, and sufficiently ‘elevated to ensure a commanding aspect. As to the design, opinions are divided. The most partial will hardly grant it any merit in point of architectural beauty; nor is the internal construction wholly satisfactory—a .deficient light and almost utter absence of any arrangements for ventilation forming teerious drawbacks. However, such as it is, the building stands—a monument to a wonderful prosperity, an altar before which the nations of the earth pour their treasures. Measures were at once taken to inform the various industrial centres of the world of the ’determination arrived at, and to invite their co-operation. The recent Exhibition in New I South Wales had largely facilitated the I colonists’ wishes in this direction, for much J had been learned of the condition and resources |of the colonies, which had enlightened foreigners very considerably, and excited within them a keen desire to open up or extend commercialrelations. Theresponsestothe circulars addressed were most satisfactory. The French Assembly voted a sum of one hundred andtwenty-fivethousandfrancs; the Germans contributed a much larger sum ; the Italians, also, readily apportioned a considerable [ amount; Austria, likewise, set aside a subsidy. The French, the Germans, the Austrians, the Italians—the most important industrial nationalities of continental Europe —exhibited a most eager desire to participate in the movement, and at once sent most valuable and costly articles of every description to swell the treasures of our Exhibition. So far, then, all was satisfactory. A board of commissioners was appointed, under whose government the matter was to be conducted. It is no wrong to those who were so appointed to say that they form a most incongruous assemblage. Men of different views upon every imaginable subject seem to have been got together for the sole purpose of obstructing, rather than promoting, the enterprise. Certainly, from first to last, their proceedings have been of a most extraordinary character, resembling rather the manner of a vestry meeting than the calm and intelligent deliberations of men into whose hands the management and development of a most important national undertaking had been committed. The intelligence and broad views of the few who recognised the real purpose and value of an International Exhibition have been overborne by the narrow prejudices and paltry discords of the majority, who, from first to last, would seem to have regarded an enterprise so momentous and so costly with the small eyes of the huckster and trader. However, it is now too late to complain.

Some idea of the magnitude of the undertaking may be gathered from the following account of the space occupied by the various exhibits. In the first place, the building covers an area of some 15 acres of ground. It is necessary to realise this in order to gather into the mind a full conception of the extent and capacity of the edifice. The space is apportioned as follows : G-eeat Britain and the Colonies. feet. Great Britain ... ... ... ... 180,000 Victoria ... ... ... ... ... 100,000 New South Wales ... ... ... 19,759 South Australia ... ... ... ... 8,000 New Zealand ... ... ... ... 8,000 Queensland ... ... ... ... 8,100 India ... ... ... ... ... 4,420 Tasmania ... ... ... ... 2,200 Western Australia ... ... ... 2,000 Piii b 370 Straits Settlements ... ... ... 900 Ceylon ... ... ... ... 4uo Mauritius ... ... ... ••• British Burmah ... ... ... ... 327 Jamaica ... ... ... ... ... 64 Total 335,840 Foreign. France ... ... ... 75,445 Germany... ... ... ... 69.184 United States ... ... ... ••• 54,800 Belgium ... ... ... ... ••• 16^94 Austria ... ... ... ... “>'6o Holland ... ... ... ... 5,175 Japan ... ... ... ... ••• 4,450 Switzerland ... ... ... ••• 3,150 China ... ... ... ••• ... 400 Scandinavia (Denmark, Sweden, and Norway) ... ... ... ... 300 Russia ... ... ... ••• ••• 160 Spain 40 Total ... ••• 235,938 To this add additional annexe erected by Germany ... ... ••• 8,550 Do. by Austria ... ... ... 6,750 Total 251,238 Totals—British and Colonial 335,840 Foreign ... ... 251,238 587,078

Victoria occupies a total floor space of 100,000 feet; Great Britain, 180,000 feet. Those who may remember the last Melbourne Intercolonial Exhibition, the whole area of which amounted to some 78,000 feet, may, by a rapid mental calculation, come to some idea of the gigantic nature of the present undertaking. It must likewise bo recollected that the space we have particularised does not include that occupied by the picture galleries.

There is every reason for sincere and hearty congratulation upon the success of the undertaking. We have brought to these shores competitive exhibits from every quarter of the globe. Under one roof, in Melbourne, is gathered the world ; for as Alphonso Karr has prettily shown us how we may travel the world over in our garden, so may the visitor to the Exhibition fly from China to Peru, from London to Vienna, from the burning plains of India to the calm sea of the Adriatic, from quaint Japan to stolid, practical, sentimental Germany, and all in a few hours’ time. It needs but a little imagination to do this, to picture within your mind the scenery, the peoples, the history of the country whose exhibits are before you , and, to go further, to conjure up the spectacle of industry, and skill, and inventive genius, the results of which are displayed with such affluent luxuriance before your wondering and admiring gaze- The average of men and women, it is true, see only through their senses. But this is because they do not exercise those faculties of observation and reflection which we all more or less possess. If they, who visit this Exhibition will but see something more than that which they behold witff their eyes, if they will gather within their minds the noble lesson which is here given of the work of intellect and the result of labour, they will take to themselves that comfort and that hope in the present and the

future of our race, which the dignity of work and the nobility of intellect must ever inspire. And, for this great couniry, rest assured that the result of this great Show must be enlarged prosperity. It matters little how ill we may be governed, or how much our progress may be retarded by selfish party strife and personal political ambitions. Let but the world know of our elastic resources, our national energy, our eagerness to advance, our indubitable public intelligence, and it will turn towards us. As yet we have but gathered in the surface of the industrial results of European energy and genius. These Exhibitions must tend to the construction of a commerce which, hitherto narrowed and compressed within a fixed limit and definite scope, has not been equal to the resources of the Australian people. An impetus, fresh, elastic and vigorous, will be given to enterprise and exchange, which cannot but operate most advantageously upon the welfare of the colonies. It is thus, then, that we should regard these enterprises ; and, while we may well stand aghast at the cost of the speculation, we may take comfort and hope in the conviction that ere long the practical and permanent advantages which must soon arise from its initiation will bring us all a royal compensation.