THE EXHIBITION.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXIX, Issue 8325, 5 January 1907, Page 5

THE EXHIBITION.

. THE DOG SHOW. TOBOGGAN RACING. A SENSATIONAL ACT. THE BESSES 0' TH' BARN BAND. By Telegraph—Special Service. CHRISTCHURCH, January 4. The Exhibition Dog Show attracted a large attendance, to-day, and owing to the great success will be continued for a third day, to-morrow, at a reduced price for admission. The magnificent Exhibition Orchestra is becoming more popular day by day, and the large audience last night enthusiastically demanded no'|less than three extra numbers. Miss Millicent Heylood, piano soloist, was well received at last night's concert, and Miss Phoebe Parsons sang with much, success. This afternoon a Chamber of Music concert was given to a fair audience. Mr Massey, organist at the Bathurst Cathedral, New South Wales, arrived to-day, to give organ recitals, but has postponed the first of these from to-morrow till Monday, so that he may have more time to acquire familiarity with the Exhibition instrument. Toboggan racing again drew a crowded attendance to Wonderland last night, and the time of the winning couple was a record for the track. After the racing "Demos" shot the water chute on a bicycle, his clothes being satur-" ated with chemicals and blazing furiously. A constant succession of interested visitors has patronised the Maori pa. Up to the present 24,000 people have paid for admission.. The departure of the Cook Islanders from the pa which fakes place on the 12th inst. will be compensated by the arrival of a large body of Wanganui and Ngatiporou Maoris, who are expected to be here very soon. The Cook Islanders on their return home, via Auckland will call at Otaki and Wanganui, where they will receive a welcome from the local Maoris. The Hon. William Knox, one of the Victorian Executive Commissioners, and a member of the Federal House of Representatives, visited the Exhibition to-day, and speaks warmly in its praise. He considered the whole design excellent, and says the dimensions of the great Fair are quite equal to his expectations. He expressed himself as much impressed by the beauty of the position, and especially of the frontage, which the meandering Avon much adorns. The whole , arrangements show, he thinks, great enterprise and great design. The Besses o' th' Barn Band will give their first performance on Thursday next. The Band will 'arrive from Wellington in the morning, and will be met at the wharf by the Lyttelton Marine Band, and escorted from the Christchurch Railway Station to the hotel by the Garrison Band. They will receive a reception in the Concert Hall in the afternoon, and in the evening will be escorted by six local bands to the Exhibition Sports Ground, where the first performance will be given. Enormous entries have been received from all parts of the colony, and also from Australia, for the International Band Contest, which' will take place early next month. • The next display of . Pain's (London) Fireworks will be given on Monday next on the same extensive scale as on New Year's Eve. Mr Donne, '■ General Manager of the Tourist Department, stated in an interview that many residents in other parts of the colony who had stayed at home over Christmas for the sake of favourite holiday fixtures in their own localities,'such as the big races at Auckland, would shortly be coming to the Exhibition. He felt confident that the attendance at the Exhibition throughout the remainder of its currency would be large. Investigation shows a very simple explanation df the fact that no large bodies of school children are visiting the Exhibition at present under special concession conditions. Both the Railway Department and the Union Company have suspended "their reduced rates for school children during the holiday period from December 15th to January 15th. Again the Union Company's fare of 12s return from Wellington only applies to boys in parties of from 200 to 300, and by coming as cadets most of these boys can get down free in- Government steamers. By the time the cadets leave school, and have arranged to make the free journey in this way there are hardly likely to be sufficient boys left to be able to make the journey at the Union Company's rates in a party of 200. Wonderland's Floral Fete, which was to have taken place on Thursday next, has been postponed for a week, so as not clash with the opening performance of the Besses o' th' Barn Band.