THE VICTORIAN INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 2394, 18 November 1880, Page 4

THE VICTORIAN INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION.

(From our Melbourne Correspondent.) THE AUSTRALIAN COUETS.—PEINCIPAL I'EATUEES. The great Victorian Exhibition, one of the best ever held—as is freely acknowledged—is now in so forward a state that I am able to take it up in a complete manner. It is important that the fullest information should be given, especially in a manner that will instruct and please, so as to give an idea to those at a distance, for we can hardly foresee what will be the ultimate result of this and the Sydney Exhibition to Australia. To prove this, it is but necessary to mention the outcome of the 1851 Exhibition in England. At that period the clay and glass manufactures of England were of a merely useful character, but the exhibition of artistic, ceramic and glass articles, led to the complete revival of almost lost arts, and England now stands high in these ; so in all probability the result here will be a fillip which every branch of art and manufacture will participate in. To an Australian, of course the great feature is his own courts, and the comparison he can make with the world is peculiarly valuable ; besides until very recently, the Australian courts were England excepted, the only ones thoroughly ready. The Australian courts are placed one after the other down the east side of the central avenue, the fronts of the Courts are being devoted to trophies, which of the most imposing in the Exhibition. A survey of these courts convey impressions most correct of the various colonies and their resourscs, upon which the various Commissioners are to be congratulated. After a careful round of all these courts, the impression that was predominant in my mind was the sufficiency of Australasia. Everything the earth gives forth is to be found here ; every product from the pole to the equator. When there is a great Australasian Empire it will require nothing from the world but skilled labor, and that is being rapidly developed among ourselves. One who looks at these courts with a prophetic eye can see in them the materials of a mighty British nation that will surpass its parent, for it will have all climes, all products : it can go to M’ar with the world and fear no famine of any kind. A r ery inspiring thoughts does that survey give, and much this Exhibition will do, to my mind to show every visitor that federation of the colonies must at no distant date be accomplished, that it is a necessity, that we will not be perfect until it is done. As to comparison between the courts there is an element which should always be considered. As Victoria is a preeminently manufacturing colony, it is not to be supposed that the other colonies would send coal to Newcastle or in other words, send manufactures to Victoria. They’ have, therefore, most wisely forwarded leather their raw products more than their manufactures, and therefore they make a substantial show. New Zealand alone tries to rival Victoria in manufactures, and she comes out of the competition creditably. As the colony in which the Exhibition is held, Victoria deserves first notice. Next to Great Britain, hers is the largest court, and it is curious that she has a foot of space for every’ square mile of her territory. Hers is, to a great extent, an industrial display, and it is really marvellous to see in a country which is only 20 years sold, her workmen competing, and well too, with the great industrial nations of the world. The most confirmed antiVictorian must at once confess that her workmen excel, that her artisans are wonderful. There is hardly a branch of industry in which she does not shine. The only fault to be found is that mere trifling exhibitis are allowed to be shown which should be left in their proper place—the shop windows. The features of the Victorian court are undoubtedly its trophies, in which it is without a rival, and which must have cost the exhibitors large sums of money. Standing above its fellows in artistic workmanship is Kitchin and Son’s stearine trophy. It is in the form of a canopy supporting on pillars a female figure, the trade mark of the firm. This is enclosed in glass, the pillars being beautifully polished blackwood, and at each of the four sides, are figures of boys. All is made of stearine, except the imitation of satin drapery behind the boys, which is composed of yellow or blue candles, marvellously resembling, when seen at some distance that fabric. Around are caudles of every hue, and soaps, &c., all being arranged with an artistic eye, and presenting a coup d'vcil that will compel the visitor to linger round it for some time. The builder of this trophy was Air Murray, but I hear the designers and workmen were French and Italians. The whole is made of the purest stearine, and looks like the best Carrara marble. There is some speculation as to whether this trophy will not melt whom the hot weather comes, but the owners assure me it will not. The next most important trophy is that of T. B. Guest and Co., a pagoda of biscuits, arranged with an eye to color, and as it reaches up to the roof is very inqxosing. Swallow and Ariel have also a biscuit trophy, not as tall as their rival’s, but they are all tasteful. The Victoria Sugar Company’s looks most tempting. Cameron and Co.’s imitation of a temple in marble and tobacco is ingenious. Our preserving people come out strong in the trophy line, and the best is that of the Bed Cross Company, something to make an epicure’s mouth water. Harper and Co.’s coffee, spices, Aire., are beautifully arranged and placed on a carpeted dais, with several smaller ones at each corner. The Appollo Candle Company have a pretty’ trophy of candles, all sizes, shapes, and colors—a gem of taste, but it does not come up to Kitchen’s. The great feature of the court which will especially strike the visitor after he has done the other Australian courts, is the superior skill of the Victorian workmen, and the great advance the colony’ has made in manufactures. But then there is an absence of mineral wealth and divers agricultural products which cannot but strike the Victorian unpleasantly. In the work of the artizau she out-distances her neighbors. Carriages such as the exhibits in this court are hard to beat; the brass and copper work,especially’ fittings, cany off the palm of the whole Exhibition. Another feature is the magnificent furniture, perfect suites of which are shown in rooms especially’ erected to display them, by Bocke, Stenfield, and Levinson, and several others. That bedroom of Bocke’s haunts me. It is a bridal chamber, replete with every’ comfort and luxury ; and we who have such humble sleeping apartments, generally the meanest in our houses, will linger looking at that room, like

the Peris at the gate of Paradise, the like of which we are never likely to enter. The mining court is very’ interesting, only’ I don’t like that model of a quartz lode. 1 have seen quartz lodes, ami they’ didn’t look a bit like that. Then the Sandhurst gold pyramid seems to have had too much usage, and looks like not falling but fluttering to pieces. It is the most aerial representation of a solid and heavy metal I ever saw. I should not forget to say there is a narrow aisle on the north boundaiy devoted to the display’ of wines, spirits, ales, Ace., but there is nothing to be seen except bottles. Considering the extent of Victoria’s wine-making industry, this is strange. The Sandhurst wine trophy, though one can find the names of Bruhn, Craitie, Pohl, &c., is not what it should be. There are cellars where colonial wine is sold, and here the real article can be tested. The impression given by a scrutiny’ of the Victorian Courts is that hers is a persevering, industrious, and intelligent people, ahead of her neighbors, but owing little to nature’s bounty’. (To be continued.)