NEW ZEALAND INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXIX, Issue 8277, 2 November 1906, Page 5

NEW ZEALAND INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION.

OPENING CEREMONY.

By Telegraph—Press JLssooiation. OHRISTOHOOH, Nov. 1. Tho weather beoame settled shortly after 10 o'clock, aud a great number of people flocked to the Exhibition Grounds, lilverv convey anoe, electric, gas or equine in the city seemed to be hurrying to aid from the great show place, aud the front of the buildings presented an animated appearance. The rush to the main hall where the ceremo >y was to be performed set in early and soon every available inch of standing room was occupied. Many visitors could not even get a view of the speotaoß At 11.3 C the Vice Presidents, Exeoutive Commissioners, Ohairmau of Executive and the Ceremonial Committee assembled in the main entrance to await the arrival of the Governor, and from the opposite aidejof the river a guard of honour was stationed. A naval guard lined the Kilmoxe Street Bridge, and a gorgeous guard of volunteers extended from the west side of the bridge to the main entrance. The grand avenue was lined with troops, and seamen of the Imperial fleet formed lines from the main entrance to the duis ereoted for the opening ceremony. The Governor was met at the entrance ty Sir Joseph Ward ns Pre sident, and the Ceremonial Com mittee, and was escorted to the dais, the band playing a verse of the National Anthem. On the Vice-Regal party reaching the seats reserved for them, the National Anthem was sung by the choir, accompanied by the orohestra. The e?eot was thrilling. Mr J. C. Anderson's Exhibition Ode was then rendered by the Christohurch Musical Union, assisted by the Exhibition Orchestra, the Woolston Brass Band oonductor being the composer of the musio. The ode was finely given and elicited much applause. LATER. The opening ceremony was satisfactory in every respect, and was carried out without a single hitch, and was witnessed by a gathering containing more prominent men of the Empire than probably any function which has been held in the Southern Hemisphere. At an early hour in the morning volunteers in their gayest uniforms commenced to move about the town, aud to congregate at the King Edward Barracks. By 10 o'clock most of them had paraded, and they moved off to the Exhibition. The various corps on foot formed a guard on part of Kilmore Street, and over the bridge at the main entranoe. Three brass bands stood inside the entranoe, and other corps guarded the way from the bridge to the main doors. The rest of the volunteers and the various mounted corps arrived in a long procession as a guard ti his Excellency the Governor. While the opening ceremony was being performed a fair number of the public found their way to the sports ground behind the buildings, where a military display was given by the mounted men, and a contingent of man-o'-warsmen from the warships in port. Tne'attendanoe of the public was comparatively small beoause the number admitted to the grounds prior to the ceremony was very limited. The proceedings opened rather tamely, as the mounted men were unable t6 reach the ground at the proper time. The men-o'-warsmen provided the first sign of the show by dragging a field gun round the grounds to the accompaniment of musio from H.M.S. Band.

At the first announcement of the Vice Regal approach Sir Joseph and Lady Ward, the Executive Commissioners, Chairmen or Committees and Ceremonial Oommitteo, had advanced to the fountain attended by the naval'and military offioera and other notability. Meanwhile the guard of honour, furnished by the Canterbury Highland Kifles, had been spread In two diagonal lines converging, on the main entrance, and the troops lined the approach with fixed bayonets. The Governor's approaoh was heralded by the appearance of two outriders, followed oy the handsome green uniforms of the No. 2 North Canterbury Mounted Rifles, the Viae Regal escort. "Guard! the Koyal Salute; present arms," came the staccato order from a kilted offitrr. There was a double clap aa from one r"a», as the guard came into the saluting nosition. The Garrison Baud burst into the inspiring strains of the National Authem, and the official reception followed. Ai the party ascended' the steps, and filed into the grand hall the choir and orohestia rendered a verss of the National Anthem. The Nos. 1 and 2 Battalions of the North Canterbury Infantry lined the passage way at the salute, and *he procession passed on to the reserved seats. Outside the entrance there was a tremendous army of photographers and oinematographiats, but they in no way disconcerted h!s Excollenoy, and be appeared to be highly pleased with the whole train of events.

The cerernouy was a very brilliant one. Tho main corridor id which it took place waa well suUed to the purpoep. Quite an fiour before the hour uxed for tho reception of his Excellency the corridor was well filled with invited guests, many of whom took an early opportunity of securing their seats. The men from j the Imperial mon-o'-war were marched into tho corridor, and lined one aide of it, while the local volunteers lined the other side, making a pioturosqae background. Several of the notabilities also arrived early, and took the seats allotted to them immediately in front of the large platform ereotfid at tho end of the oorriHor for tbe orohestru. Anions? those were the offiaera of the meu-o'-war, the Deputy-Mayor (Mr 0. fay ling), Beveral of the Executive Commissioners, Bishop Julius and Archbishop Redmond, and representatives of tbe Legislature and Educational Institutions and tho Judicial Bench, who were applauded as they walked up the passage. There was a ripple of excitement in the gathering when Sir Joseph Ward, accompanied hy Ladv Ward, the Ministers of the Crown, Sir Johu

Gorst (representative of the British Government), Captain Aitken (British Commissioner), Ooionel Baachop, Lieutenant-Colonel Slater, Mr A. A. Langdon (representative of the British Government in arts and crafts), arrived, aud a few minutes after his Excellency and Lady Pluuket took their seats. The ode, written by Mr J. 0. Anderson, and set to musio by Mr Alfred Hill, was then rendered, it is written in seven distinct phrases, and opened with a ononis of welcome, which is rather dramatic io character. The musio is intended to be dosoriptive, and rhe way it was played indicated that the orchestra will be a very pronounaed attraction of the Exhibition. The soloists and chorus were excellent. At the conclusion of the ode there was a round of loud applause, which was continued for several minutes ivlr Hill was introduced to His Excellency, who shook him by the band and heartily congratulated-him. Mr Kajealso introduced Johannes 0. Anderson, and he also received His. Bxcellenoy's congratulations. His Excellenoy, amidst a tumult of applause, rose to address the vast concourse. He said it was with feelings of deepe it pride and satisfaction that he rose to carry out the honourMe duty which had teen oooferred upon him. That satisfaction was, however, tempered with sorrow tiat the New Zealand statesman and British Imperialist who laid the foundation stone was not there to complete the largest Exhibition ever held beneath the Southern Croas, and to witness the response which the Mother Country and her children had made to New Zealand's invitation. (Cheers). "We call this the New Zealand International Exhibition," said the Governor. "Proud as lamto be associated with so important an undertaking, I am even msre interested in the objeot underlying its conception. That objeot, if 1 interpret it rightly, was to show to "their fellow citizens of tue Empire what New Zealand, with a history of but a man's lifetime, has iooomplisbed. It was also to demonstrate to the world that there is rising here a young nation which, though furthest from the Mother Country i and nine hundred miles from her nearest neighbour, is British in thought and blood, happy and prosperous, standing only on the threshold of her splendid future. It may be thought by some that it is presumptuous, if not ridiculous, for less than a million of people living on a mere spaok in the Paoific Ocean to anticipate becoming the New England of the Southern Seas, or for a land of but yesterday to expect to compare with the greatest niaritime and manufacturing nation of the Old World; but it is in no such doubting spirit that the New Zealander regards his future. He points to the thirty seven inillious of Great Britain, and proudly tells you that his own oouutry is an large, as healthy, and as fertile. Indeed, nothing has impressed me more daring my visits to different parts of the colony than the faot that beneath the surface of their general content the pioneer and the'farmer, the merchant and the artisan are looking forward confidently to their children's heritage." Proceeding to reier to the colony's natural resources, the Governor s3id that if this country had materials to build her 9hips, she had also the men to man them, for the New Zealander had eminently the sea-faring nature of the Englishman. Was it, he asked, difficult to believe that with humanitarian legislation for the workers and wise treatment of capital there will arise before long manufacturing towns differing only from those at Home in that grinding poverty overcrowding, and dirt, smoke, and fog will be absent. He did not think that the people of New Zealand will oonsider he had, over-estimated the probablo future of this land in which they take so much pride, and it seemed to him tint at an epoch such as this Exhibition was likely to prove it was a fitting occasion to dwell upon her future. The Governor then welcomed the visitors in the name of the King, and expressed appreciation of the honour the people of the colony invariably paid tj the representative of the Sovereign. |His Excellenoy sat down amid applause. Sir J. G. Ward expressed deep regret at the absence of tne man who started the Exhibition. He bad that day received the following telegram from Mrs Seddon: "Today our thoughts turn towards Ohristohurch, and we, sincerely hope everything will pass off satisfactorily and that their Exhibition will be the success that Mr Seddon would have wished it.—Janie Seddon." (Applause). He also expressed regret at the absence, through illness, of Sir John Hall.' He extended ft warm welcome to the visitois, naming primarily Sir John Gorst, representative of the British Government, and then mentioned those of the Commonwealth representatives. The Premier concluded as follows:—"The late Premier intimated in Obriatoburoh that this great undertaking wps to be gone on with, and later on Mr Munro, the Chairman of the Exhibition Committee, was appointed by the Government to initiate the weak, and on him the organisation of its inception was cast. It is duo to bim to say that he has carried out the enormous mass of work done—work which refloats the highest credit upon him. (Applause). I desire to say that it is known only to those who are actively engaged in connection with this Exhibition the mass of work that has been done by tho Chairman of Commissioners, Mr Munro, and I take this opportunity—the first time since the Exhibition has been inaugurated—of saying that the Government reoognisus that he had a most difficult task to discharge." Sir J. G. Ward'was loudly applauded when be sat down. The One Hundredth Psalm was then sang, and Sir Joseph Ward then handed jewelled gold passes toLndy Ward and the llou. Kathleen. Plunked, on balialf oE the Exhibition. After that His Excellency declared' the Exhibition open, and despatched a cablegram to His Majesty the King announcing tne faot. The massed bands outside, and theorohestru and the chorus inside. joined in the National Anthem. ' The Exhibition bells were rung, the flags, of all natious were unfurled, aud the public were ad-, mitted.