THE EXHIBITION.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXIX, Issue 8375, 8 March 1907, Page 5

THE EXHIBITION.

By Telegraph—Special Service,

CHRISTCHURCH, March 7.

The attendance at the Exhibition to-day was 13,376. The Flower Show was again a great attraction, and the performances of the Besses o' th' Barn Band have lost none of their spell. The Orchestra also drew a large attendance both in the afternoon and evening. Through the kindness of the General Manager of the Exhibition, Cadets were enabled to witness the fireworks and listen to the Besses o' th' Barn Band last night, a general leaving having been granted for "that, purpose. Both the West Coast and Hawke's Bay Battalions leave for the North to-morrow by the Te Anau. The Palmerston North Battalion will immediately take their place next Wednesday night, which will see the last performance of the Besses o' th' Barn Band. A grand combined programme of fireworks, alternating with band selections,: has been arranged. The exhibits at the "Wonderland" Pet Show tc-morrow will include a great variety of pets, such as pigs, hedgehogs, donkeys, lambs and tortoises, besides more ordinary domestic favourites. Several members of the committee of the Canterbury Automobile Association visit to the Exhibition Sports Ground this morning with a view of testing the suitability of the'track for the purpose of the motor car gymkhana, which will be held next Saturday afternoon, and members expressed the opinion that the track was eminently suitable. A double attraction of Saturday afternoon will be the conjunction of the famous Besses o' th' Barn Band with the gymkhana. The Canterbury College Sports Association have definitely decided to hold their annua} sports I gathering on the Sports Ground on ! Saturday week. Numerous applica--1 tions are being made daily by various schools and collectors for various agricultural sets and cotton pods in the Fijian Court, which is one of the most novel and popular in the Exhibition. Arrangements are being made by which all articles for distribution will be handed over to the Secretary of the Education Board at the close of the Exhibition f/>r division among the different schools. Letters have been sent to all the principal football clubs in the colony, inviting them to send teams to take part in the football tournament, which it is proposed to hold in April. Arrangements are well under way for the approaching International Fire Brigade Competitions, which are .expected to be the largest ever held in the colony. The confetti carnival, which it is suggested should be the closing feature of the Exhibition,' should prove a unique and mirthful function. These carnivals are regularly held in the streets in Paris, and other large Continental towns at certain holiday seasons, when people masked and wearing fancy costumes parade the streets showering all and sundry with confetti, and throwing strings of coloured paper, which wind themselves about the person like lassoos. Confetti carnivals, combined with other' amusements, have been introduced with much success into a large number of towns in the United States by the American Company which is offering to conduct the function at the Exhibition.