THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 31, 1906.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXIX, Issue 8275, 31 October 1906, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 31, 1906.

The New Zealand International Exhibition, which will be opened tomorrow witn all due ceremony, promises to be a decided success, and will, it is to be hoped, prove of such permanent benefit to this country as to justify the large expenditure that. the Government have considered necessary in connection with the undertaking. The Premier estimates the "loss'' that the colony will have to make good at £40,000, and Mr Massey, who appears to coneider that, as Leader of the Oppcsition, it would be quite improper for him to agree with any opinion held by the Premier, plaoes the defloit at £BO,OOO, but it is probable that fcolb the Premier and the Leader of the Opposition will ba very tr.uoh "out of it" when the actual figures are known; in faot, it is impossible to estimate with any d«gree of accuracy what the "losi." will be. The benefit that the country will derive is, ot course, of an indirect chaiaoter, and, oonequently, the extent of the national advantage will never be really known, though we may hope that it will be all that our legislators desire. So far as it is possible to judge from conflicting reports, all the arrangements are well in hand, and on the opening day the Exhi-

bitiou will be found in suoh a state of readiness as to give satisfaction to both exhibitors and tbe geu eral public. Tbe Exhibition is, of course, chiefly valuable for the educative influence that it will bave in many different quarters and in various ways, and is an advertisement of the colony that has rnadn suoh vigorous efforts to ensure its success. Large numbers of visitors from outside this country may be relied upon and there is no douht that, an enormous number of New Zealanders will, also, be among the visitors. The Exhibition is being talked of from one end of the country to the other, and, as the piesent are prosperous times, it is not unreasonable to suppose that when tbe total number of visitors is known it will be little short of astonishing. Possibly no more propitious timeoould have been selected for the Exhibition than that desided upon. No effort, or reasonable expenditure, has been spared to make the Exhibition attractive, and tbe alluring nature of this leviathan Show may be partially gauged frcm the fact that our legislators have abandoned their duties and arß off, en ncasse, to the Exhibition. Souse people—in view of much-needed important legislation—are prosaio enough to think that bad Parliament adjourned for a week it would .have been amply sufficient, and that tbe session might then bave been renewed for another six weeks after such an adjournment. The Goveriameat, however, did not take ths view of the position, and, as a matter of patriotism, it was necessary that they should show active sympathy with the Exhibition—apart altogether from a hankering desire to leave tbe Land Bill in the waste-paper basket and, accordingly, that very funny little custom o* the mock Parliament was observed, and legislative cares were thrust aside until next year. In tbe meantime there is the Exhibition, and it is only fair to point out that it will furnish evidenoe to some extent of tbe b9neflcial nature of the Government's policy for a number of years past. The New Zealand International Evhibitiop will emphasise the growth of this country, not only so far as the past is concerned, but the possibilities of future development under favourable conditions, and the general aspirations of the people. Success alnne is wanting to orown success, and to illustrate the value of peaceful victories. That that success, which will be gratifying to every New Zealander, is practically assured certainly seems to be the case.