DISMANTLING THE EXHIBITION

Taranaki Daily News, Volume L, Issue 59, 17 April 1907, Page 2

DISMANTLING THE EXHIBITION

THIEVES AT WOUK. SOME INTEIJI'.XTIXi; I'IULTiES. I'd' I'rCsS Association. Christehureh, April ](i. Tiw entire Exhibition building is in a state of disorder to-day, and on every hand exhibitors are to be seen tlieir goods mid preparing fin- Hitting nt tin.* earliest possible moment. Jt will be fully three weeks before everything is cleared, and a. large number of people visited the grounds during the morning and afternoon, » toll of sixpence being levied at the gate for the benefit of the attendants. Admittance to the building proper, however, is gained only by special permit. The .Marine Department has decided that the seals shown at the Exhibition will be liberated on some part of the coast, unless some seaside muiiicipalily desires to adopt them. Evidently a considerable amount of pocketpicking went mi last night, as there wore iiiiinv regretful dnpiincs from the police by iadic.-. this morning relative to the. whereabouts of missing purses, broaches, bangles, and other articles. A few bottles of whisky and beer arc stated to have been looted from one of the stalls. The attendance at the Exhibition ves Icr.lay was l(i.S.">2, the highest recorded for iiiiy cole day during the season. The

nearest approach to this total was on the Kin"'s liirlhdav (November II), when the admission totalled 4.VIM. The smallest attendance was oil Tuesday, December IS (the day following the first exhibition of the Fijian tire walkers'], when the turnstiles registered 0007. The total attendance reached the unexpectedly high total of 1,000,800, the daily average being i;(,!)-l!>. Compared with previous exhibitions held in the colony, these ligures show an enormous increase. At the Exhibition held in iJunedin in 1S8D- !)(> the largest as regards attendance held in the colony previous to the one which closed its doors yesterday, the number of visitors was 018,022, or less than onethird of that recorded on the occasion under review. The daily average was ■1'.)!!), The next largest Exhibition was that held in llagley Park in the autumn of 1881, when the turnstiles registered an allcudaiKC of 220,:t()0, or a daily average of 2300. At the Wellington International Exhibition in ISBS, promoted by Sir .lulius Vogcl, then Colonial Treasurer, the total attendance was 133,000. At Australia's premier Exposition, the great .Melbourne Exhibition, the total at--1 tendance reached 1,003,431), so that New 1 Zealand exceeded the Victorian figures ■ by 34,250. As that Exhibition remained ' open for n longer period than this co- ' lony's, the daily average at the llagley ' Park Exhibition was substantially lar--1 get.