THE VICTORIAN INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 2397, 22 November 1880, Page 4

THE VICTORIAN INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION.

(From our Melbourne Correspondent.) TIIE AUSTRALIAN COURTS. —PRINCIPAL FEATURES. New South Wales occupies the position next to Victoria, but here is the poorest show of all the colonies, considering her wealth and age. The features are essentially trophies of minerals which seem to have been specially brought here to astonish Victorians. At the entrance stands a pyramid representing the gold obtained, and behind it is one representing the silver, not a large one. On one side of the entrance, an arch of blockwood enclosing a mirror, is a pyramid of copper ingots, on the other one of tin ingots. There are also shale trophies and some show of iron bars, all intended to convey an idea of the colon} r ’s wealth. In the manu-facturing-department there is little to attract attention ; what there is, hardly shows the finish and style of Victorian work. But what will strike the attention when the court is entered are the splendid oxhibits'of wood of all kinds, and the orange and lemon trees in fruit New South Wales has not come here to show her manufactures —she knows that would be sending coals to Newcastle; therefore and wisely, she shows all her immense resources in minerals wood,and materials. But the court is not equal to her name as a colony. The show cases are small and shoppy. The South Australian Court will please the visitor far more. It is bright, well finished, and shows that the people are intelligent and progressive. Of course, in the front she has (‘reeled a trophy of her great mineral produce, copper. But on going through the court the attention of the practical man will be arrested by an olive oil trophy, oil as good as ever came from Lucca. If South Australia can grow olives and make oil, so can the other colonics. The native scene is a novelty, and very instructive to visitors. I don’t think the settler’s hut is the real thing, even though a stuffed magpie is placed on top. When I lived in a hut the door was of adzed slabs, not sawn boards. This hut is used as an oflicc, and the very handsome youth who sits in it didn’t look at all like a bushman. There are some very beautifnd inlaid tables of native woods in this court, and altogether it is bright, pleasing, and has “ life” in it. Our poor distant sister, Western Australia, has a surprisingly good court, small as it is, and she shows that much neglectful as she has been, her day is coming, for she is evidently a great country, and her resources second to none. This is the land of the swan, Anvtralic occidcutale, and the bird is reproduced on nearly all her exhibits. Of course she has a chosen pyramid of lead for the front of her court, that being her greatest mineral, and elsewhere she shows the ore. In all the colonial courts there are exhibits of native weapons, which do not materially differ. Western Australia also shows woods of all kinds, jarrah and others. She also shows silk and pearl shells, and altogether, I think when the present cloud clears off her atmosphere she will be a great country. New Zealand, as befits the daughter of Victoria, ranks next to that colon}' in the display of industry, and indeed she treads close upon her heels. lathe front of her court she has no special trophies, except a gold pyramid, but there are several cases of the lovely ferns for which South Britain is famous. Models of the llotomahana and and Wakatipu will strike the eye ; they arc well done. New Zealand comes strong in the display of her woods, in the rough and manufactured. The inlaid tables are very beautiful, and Guthrie, Larnach & Co, exhibits a splendid porch and door of various woods. New Zealand has her specialities, and she takes good care to exhibit them —Kauri gum and flax, which arc shown raw and manufactured. Burt’s coppersmith’s work is very fine almost equal to the Victorian, the articles being intended for a refrigerator. McLeod Brothers exhibit a small but exquisitely artistic candle trophy. There is hardly a branch of industry which is not represented in this court, and it is evident New Zealanders are island Victorians, There are several native curiosities, weapons, &c., and skeletons of giant birds of the islands. It is a very interesting, well got up, and instructive court.

Last but not least conies my favorite court, that of our younger sister Queensland. It is small, compact, and well ordered. Victoria smacks of the shop, but Queensland is essentially characteristic. In front there is a great pearl shell trophy, on each side of which there are urns containing that strange production hechc dc la mcr (which literally moans blackfish) which look like bad potatoes split in halves. The value is ,t!Bb 10s per ton. But we cannot move without seeing that Queensland has a marvellous future before her. On the right of the pearl shell trophy is one of Queensland sugar, on the left of jute—that cordage and bagging material of which Victoria exports £IOO,OOO worth a year from India. Behind the trophy is a coffee shrub full of brown berries; a little farther off tea trees in vigorous growth, bearing those seed buds with which teadrinkers are familiar. There is a gold trophy with the statistics of the colon,) all round the sides—the gold of the colony has been 3,477,0700z5. ; of the Palmer alone 'J4G,7lfiozs. But Queensland does not only rely on her gold or her tin—her productions are manifold and marketable. She shows the loveliest of woods, dugongs, and turtles ; sugar cane of all kinds, arrowroot, cocoanuts, and all that a tropical country can produce. In the centre of the court the (Government geological exhibits are shown, displaying a marvellous mineral wealth ; and above, on panels, pictures by local artists, illustrating phases of Queensland life, and not badly done either. This is a special feature of the court, and will give more instruction than any other. The visitor here sees squatters and squatter’s work and squatting country, the homes of the planters on the Mary, and the picturesque Helds of sugar cane, and the timber and fellers and timber rafters. There are several curiosities shown. The native weapons seems a little more elaborate than those of the southern blacks. There is a strage fish shown which has flesh like salmon, the Ccratodus Fostcrn. Its peculiarity is that it has not only gills but one lung. When the water is bad it rises and breathes like ourselves. Providence has fitted it for muddy rivers. There are also two mummies, a man and a woman, and ghastlier or more fearful objects I never saw. The industrial exhibits are good, and show considerable advance on the part of Queenslanders.

So much for the leading features of these courts. I leave with eyes opened to the great future of a federated Australia, having all it requires within itself, lit to take its place with the most favored lands ; nay gifted by nature as no other nation is, for it can produce everything that grows from the equator to the pole ; and there are cunning hands to work these products up into articles which will compete with the best the old world or new can show.