THE COLONIAL EXNIBITION. (From "Auckland Star" London correspondent.) |

Te Aroha News, Issue 166, 21 August 1886, Page 4 (Supplement)

THE COLONIAL EXNIBITION . (From "Auckland Star" London correspondent.) |

liondok, Jaly4.^ It would bo absnrd to afoot Ignorance of what is perfectly well-known to everyone connected with the New Zealand Court at the Exhibition, vis., that the relations ex-J fating between Dr. Yon Haast and Dr. Bul-i ler, and Dr. Yon Haaet and Sir F.j D. BeU, are somewhat strained. This is owing in the main to the obstinate^ determination of Dr". > Yon < Haast -to have his own way with regard to every trifling detail of the arrangement of ! the Court, and' to a sturdy resolve on his part to. ignore either suggestions or advice. It is-entireiy bwing to Dr. Yon iiaaat, for example, that the New Zealand art collection has been • banished to the Albert Hal' gallery. Both Sir- P. D. Bell and Dr. Buller implored him not to permit such a Philistinism, but 'twas no uee. As a consequence, your court— which, when carefully examined,l find contains a large number of interesting exhibits— looks dull and gloomy, that is, compared with Victoria and New South Wales. How completely lost all the New Zealand piotures and photos are may be gathered from the faot that on Bank Holiday (Whit' Monday), when eighty thousand persons ' passed ithe turnstiles of the Exhibition, only 1500 were taken up by the lift to the Albert Hall gallery, iou will scarcely credit the fact, ut if Mr Leopold Buller had not "put down his foot " firmly the splendid series of Maori portraits by Lindauer, which form the staple popular attraction of the old New Zealand- Court, would also have been banished to the Albert Hall. When Mr Buller came home, a month before his father, he found to his horror the portraits were hung there. Protestations proved vain, so the young fellow took the law into hia own hands, and calmly declared that 006 another case of his father's curios should be opened till the portraits were restored to their proper place. As the Bailer collection is the most perfect of its kind in the world (the one presented to the British Museum by Sir 6. Grey comes next to it), even the autocratic Executive Commissioner dare not dispense with it, and the portraits re-appeared. Another cause of hcart-burnine: is to be found in Dr. Yon Haaat'a disinclination to fairly acknowledge the kudos due to Professor Parker, Dr Hector,and others, whose scientific exhibits have deeply interested English savants. Dr. Buller has taken up the cudgel* tor the absentees. As he very properly observes, "Exhibitors over here may be left to take care of themselves, but I don't like to see men who slaved night and day to send us curioa, and who are 16,000 milea away, defrauded of the praise properly their due. It's small-minded." Do not for an instant suppose that anybody desires to detract from Dr. Yon Haast' a valuable services. Quite the contrary. Both Sir F. D. Bell and Dr. Buller appreciate them at their full worth. It is merely that in blowing his own trumpet to newspaper reporters, &c, he has entirely forgotten, or omitted to mention, numerous hard-working coadjutors. Thanks to the unwearied exertions of Sir F. D. Bell.the New Zealand fernery is now in its full glory, and one of the most favourite resorts of the Australasian section. With the assistance of Dick Radcliffe (the horticulturist) the leading features of New Zealand buah scenery have been faithfully reproduced there in miniature, and at one end a deliciously cool retreat is provided for some fringe- backed lizards sent over by Sir Julius Vogel. Tia a great pity that no card or notice-board intimates that the credit of arranging this exquisite conservatory is due to Sir F. D. Bell. During the last few days, two screens have been erected in one of the New Zealand courts, and covered with an uncommonly fine series of photos of North Kew Zealand scenery and notables, by Mr Bartlett, of Auckland. Another new exhibit is an immense pumpkin sent over by Mr Hardken, of Whangarei. Professor Fowler, the President of th Zoological Society, pronounces the skeleton of the grey shark (I think it is) preserved according to a new and highly effective procees, by Professor Parker, of Dunedin, the most perfect thing of its kind he has ever seen. The British Museum authorities have already cast greedy eyes at this exhibit, The octopu?, preserved, or rather carbo- J liBhed,by Mes3rs Jennings and Bourne, has also deeply interested zoologists. When the Prince of Wales visited the New Zealand Court he was greatly struck with Dr. Hector's geological model of the islands, and aeked several questions about it. Dr. Yon Haast unfortunately forgot to mention Dr. Hector's name to H.R H. The samples of cereals and grasses on the stem, exhibited by the Canterbury Agriculture and Pastoral Association, are so fine that many English agriculturists pooh-pooh the idea of their being (as of course they are) fair samples, and declare the little bundles must have been made up from pickei stems. The samples of wheat, oat, barley, &c, shown by the N. Z. Loan and Mercantile and Canterbury Farmer's Association, are also pronounced exceedingly fine by agriculturist and corn-factor visitors. Incomparably the finest collection of kauri gum curios at the Exhibition is that of Mr H. P. Barber, of Auckland, Several museums would gladly acquire it, if for sale. The block of kauri showing the (rum in the wood, exhibited by Mr Jim Coates, of Auckland, is another curio upon which the curators of numerous museums have cast hungry eyes, but the reply to all-would-be purchasers is that it is not for sale at any price. Mr Taylor White, of Napier, sent over a lot of moat interesting moas bones for exhibit, but* Dr. Yon Haast, fearing they might detract from his own particularised moa, refused to receive them, and they have been returned to Mr White's brother in London. Amongst the moro ornamental exhibits in modern New Zealand, which invariably extract smalls screams of delighted admiration from feminine visitors, may be mentioned two beautifully-designed screens >y Mies Wimperis, of Dunedio, and Mies larrif, of Nelson, and a table-board by Miss Maxwell, of Wellington, Dr. Buller tells me that two of the most fashionable London coach-builders have pronounced the five glass landau cf New Zealand timber, exhibited by Cousins and Atkin, of Auckland, and a buggy by J. and W. Stewart, of Dunedin, to be thoroughly creditable bits of workmanship. They were surprised such smart traps could be turued out -in New Zealand, and no longer wondered why orders from that colony were few and far between. ,- . - • , , The sumptuous new edition of "New Zeaand Birds," which Dr. > Buller is going to bring out during his stayiri England, will, the publisher anticipates, cost not lees than £B.QOO to produce. „ o *lt? wme^DiHonl 801 l read Sit Robert Stout • * interesting f pamphlet Mem*- the • " JProgreii of *New • Zealand^Duriug - the '**q SOyeiri'' before the Statistical Society n Tutsday evening. Tft«is --if; < - , -