THE EXHIBITION.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXIX, Issue 8380, 14 March 1907, Page 5

THE EXHIBITION.

By Telegraph—Special Service. CHRISTCHURCH, fllarch 13. A crowded excursion train from the South was responsible for an unusually large attendance of country folk at the Exhibition this morning. 1 The General Manager, Mr Munro, supplies an interesting comparison of the attendance returns for the present Exhibition and the Centennial International Exhibition held at Melbourne in 1888-9. The total admissions to the Melbourne Exhibition, open for a period of six months and two'days, were 1,963,436, and the total number of admissions to the New Zealand International Exhibi-] tion, which will be opeh five months J and fifteen days, closing on April 15th, is estimated to reach 1,900,000. The largest daily attendance at the Melbourne Exhibition was on the Saturday preceding 'the closing, when the number of admissions l'egisteredjwas 42,395, and the largest weekly total was during the concluding week of the extension, for which the total attendance was 142,593. The average daily attendance at the Melbourne Exhibition was 12,271, and the average daily attendance at the New Zealand International Exhibition to-day stands at 13,080. The exhibit of horticultural glasses now on view in the Agricultural Department's court is of a very complete and instructive character, including bell glasses, o,£ various sizes, vases, cucumber glasses, globes, and other forms of horticultural glassware, made by a ,St. Helens firm. There are also large specimens of crude glass from which articles are manufactured. The exhibit occupies a large stand in the court, a series of specimens showing the different methods of grafting fruit trees. Various trees and shrubs, prepared by Mr W. J. Palmer, Government Pomologist for the North, Island, have also been placed in the Agricultural Department's court. They show stock and scion separately, and also the graft. The number of visitors to this court, which is complete enough to form a very satisfactory farmers' exhibition in itself, increases as the weeks go by. It is expected that a further detachment of North Island Maoris will arrive,at the Exhibition pah at the end of this week.

Any visitor who had not been well aware of the fact, must have found it difficult to believe, if he had seen the crowd at the Exhibition to-night, that the great fair had ■ been iri progress over four months. The farewell programme of the Besses o' th' Barn Band, combined with the fireworks display, was a great event, and from an early hour in the evening peoplethronged the main approach and corridors of the building and crowded on to the Sports Ground in an increasing multitude. Smart showers fell at intervals throughout the evening, and the sky threatened a heavy downpour at any , moment. Yet a crowd, estimated at over 10,000, sat or stood out the programme of the Besses o' th' Barn Band, sheltered only by their umbrellas, and thousands of others watched the fireworks, when these commenced, from the grounds outside the enclosure. The Band were at their best for the farewell performance which was received with' great enthusiasm, several of the Selections being encored. The fireworks display was of a specially brillanfc nature, several, new devices being introduced. At the conclusion of the combined programme seven local bands played "Auld Lang Syne" together. The attendance for the day- reached the splendid total of 21,023, which brings the aggregate up to 1,498,040. If the present raia continues, the Exhibition Gardens, which are still'a theme of general admiration, are expected to afford a most magnificejif display , of autumn flowers, particularly 'dahlias, begonias, and salvia;,bqnfire. :

These flowers have been late inblooming owing to the dry weather. Ekperts place the cost of the maintenance of the gardens in the present condition at fully £SOO a year.