Unbreakable Bonds

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 1020, 10 July 1930, Page 18

Unbreakable Bonds

WINTER EXHIBITION BRINGS TOWN & COUNTRY TOGETHER

Permanent Site Needed

FARMER and country-dweller, manufacturer and city resident meet with complete understanding at the Auckland "Winter Show.

Here the wealth of a wealthy province is displayed in its amazing variety, astonishing even those who have tried to encompass its value in the terms of £ s. d.

Auckland has many advantages. Man has grasped them with a rapidly growing knowledge of their worth. So the northward trek continues. It is such a display as that to be seen at present in the sheds on the Central Wharf which is 'luring others to settle in this gold-mine of promise and prosperity. Like all successful issues the Auckland Winter Show grew from a modo§t beginning. Over 40 years ago it was known as an. industrial exhibition, giving residents of Auckland in those

sary for the progress and welfare of both city and province. No one will deny its influence or the stimulus it gives to both the agricultural and manufacturing industries. An instance of this can be given by the fact that Mr. J. Findlay, joint manager with Mr. W. F. O’Donnell, receives rings on the telephone for months after each exhibition. People who have visited the show may not have Lhought very seriously about it at the time. But the seed has been sown. Time and again people have inquired from M>-. Findlay the whereabouts of certain articles which had been' exhibited and always he has

days a comprehensive idea of the progress of industry in the Province. These exhibitions were continued for some weeks, though, compared with today, they were modest little displays. However, they were to bear fruit—fruit which has produced, or helped to produce the city of Auckland and the prosperous land which stretches from the King Country to the far north. The first big industrial exhibition was held in Auckland in 1898. Others followed until 1908. This exhibition was really the first Winter Show held in Auckland. The exhibition of 1913-14 had lessened the interest in winter shows and the ones which followed almost, lapsed because of the big project. However there were men of faith, and today that faith has been justified. War came with its horrors and the curtailment of citizen activity. Ail exhibitions of any kind ceased. Then, in 1922 the Manufacturers' Association amalgamated with the Agricultural and Pastoral Association. The cooperation between these two organisations resulted in the Winter Show giving place to the present Winter Exhibition. Today the Winter Exhibition has become a provincial institution and 13 regarded by all as supremely neces-

been able to tell them where those articles were to be found. Mr. Findlay was manager of the Winter Show In 1922 and knows full well the sterling worth of this great display of the products of in dustry and agriculture. In 1922, when the amalgamation with the Agricul; tural and Pastoral Association took place, \the exhibition came under the joint management of Mr. Findlay and Mr. O'Donnell. The aims and objects of the Winter Exhibition —aims and objects which have been fulfilled and which will be fruitful so long as the fixture ex ists—are to encourage and foster both the agricultural and manufacturing industries. One is not sacrificed for the other, as a walk through the buildings on Central Wharf w r ill show the most critical. observer. And everything is displayed to its best advantage. Spacious stalls, large or small enough as the accommodation demands, are to be had for all who require them. It is interesting to recall that the

first industrial exhibition held in Auckland took place at Andrew Bell’s premises- in Wyndham Street. In later years the exhibition had homes in various parts of the city. One was held in premises near the present 'Town Hall. The exhibition never had a perma-

f nenf home until it found its way to | its present site- on the Central Wharf, i Even this site is not secure, how- ; ever, and is merely allowed by the good graces of the Auckland Har- | hour Board. Time and the increase ! in overseas cargo may prevent the exhibition from being held in the wharf sheds and another site will have to be found. „ The rapidly-increasing growth of the exhibition and its success for all concerned suggest that it should have a permanent home on some site in the city which can readily and easily be reached by all concerned. It has been suggested that this might he a recommendation to the present permanent exhibition committee during the coming year. Several sites have been suggested already and one of the most suitable seems to be an area off Beach Road on the Harbour Board’s reclaimed property there. The extent of such a building can be gauged from the fact that the present temporary inward goods shed is standing on reclaimed ground on the waterfront. As the years go by more and more ; manufacturers and farmers become j interested in the exhibition and realise j the vast importance of this huge display of provincial wealth and effort Even the native race has felt the call and this year, for the first time, Maori women will have a court to themselves. Here, in a setting typical of the race and of early New Zealand, they will weave their mats and other articles before the eyes of passers-by. Neither must one forget the educa tional value of the Wiuter Exhibition, i particularly among the younger gen-

eration. This is being proved year after year by the exhibits from the various city and suburban schools and by the interest of children themselves in requesting to visit to have passed when their only thoughts were for the merry-go-round and its attendant thrills. More often than not one sees them taking the greatest interest in every branch of industry and activity. So the good work will go on. Each year will see this i xhibition improv ing in quantity and quality, for healthy competition makes for such a desirable state of affairs. Personali ties if (hey ever exist, are relegated to the sphere of forgotten things, while everyone works in the interests of the general good and for the bene fits which will rebound to the credit of the proviuce and the Dominion. Here again one sees the far-reaching effects of tyie exhibition. During the winter months many Southerners spend holidays in Auckland. A visit to the exhibition confirms the reports they have heard of the wealth of the Auckland Province and on their return to the South its prosperity and suitability are given the best advertisement they could* have—-that of personal acquaintance.