AUCKLAND CONRIBUTION TO THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 6, Issue 279, 30 January 1862, Page 4

AUCKLAND CONRIBUTION TO THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION.

For the growth of long combing wool no other country is ; better adapted than -Auckland.' Our flock-masters know this ' fact, and produce a large quantity of the very finest wool, but why is it that the “Auckland contribution to the great international exhibition of 1862 contains only one sample of long wool Leicester, one sample mixed breed merino, one sample pure Saxony, one Saxony and Spanish, - one hogg Leicester, and three samples mixed breed wool 1 We do not speak otherwise than in praise of the samples of wool in the exhibition, but they do not fairly represent the produce of the province of Auckland. It may not appear to those gentlemen to he of any immediate benefit to themselves to forward samples of wool, but if there be any good in competitive exhibitions at all, it would surely be of some value to the wool growers of this province to take a first, place among contributions from the finest wool producing districts of the world. Passing from wool we look in vain for samples of wheat, barley, or oats. There are no grass seeds shown, nor entered on the catalogue. Surely it would be of interest to the British public to see and judge of the character of our cereal produce, and the quality of grass-seed preserved from the imported stock ? But while we express our unfeigned regret that the agricultural and pastoral productions of the province of Auckland have been either altogether overlooked, or only partially represented in the con- . tribution about to be sent to swell the articles on exhibition in Kensington Park next year*, we must express some satisfaction at' the way in which' our forest and mineral wealth have been represented. The furniture woods make a respectable show, in manufactured articles and in polished slabs and knots. Among the articles of Auckland manufacture, not intended for exhibition, hut on sale, we have pleasure in noticing a pianoforte, by Mr. Bowring, Wakefield street.' The case is rimil. This is a well finished and creditable piece of workmanship. Mr. Cox, Freeman’s bay, exhibits a case of violins, which reflect credit upon his skill as a violin maker, and ought to insure extended patronage. They are made of kauri and tee-tree.-' Among the slabs of wood intended for the International Exhibition there is an ...oblong section of a kauri tree, 3 feet by 10 feet, but' this by no means give's an idea of the magnitude of these princely . forest trees. There is a kauri pine in Coromandel 17 feet in diameter ; another maybe seen''on the Papakura fiats 15 feet, and another at Matakana is not less than 14 feet in diameter. And here we will notice the six specimen buckets, manufactured by Mr. R Bleazard, at the Auckland steam bucket, txtb^an'd"TdiaTr factory ; and we have plea,- . sure in stating that the. buckets shown by Mr. Bleazard arc, in the opinion of competent judges, superior to.any buckets of American manufacture that have yet found their way to the. colonial markets. They are finished in superior style, being varnished on the outside with kauri gum varnish prepared by Mr. Bleazard, by a process known as yet only to himself. These buckets are made from the least valuable of our. indigenous wood, and can he produced in large quantities at a cheap, rate.

The most seems to have been made of 1 harm turn ienax by the ingenious and persevering men who have set themselves to. construct and work machinery for the preparation of this fibrous plant. There are nine contributions, containing many specimens of the native flax in its prepared state. Key. A. Purchas and J. Niniiis exhibit samples of patent flax, dressed, hy machinery invented by tlie contributors ; Baron de Thierry exhibits sixteen specimens of flax and New Zealand fibre : Mr. J. Pro.bert shows twelve specimens of flax, dressed by wooden machinery invented by himself, from wild plants, which the natives consider worthless, and which is said to be plentiful. Mr. Probert likewise exhibits a creeper, named pikiarero, which he has discovered yields a fine silky fibre when prepared. This plant is esteemed by the exhibitor - to be of considerable value. The other exhibitors of prepared flax are Messrs. G. "Webster, Neill Loyd, T. Turnbull, and G Cole. Whatever may be the result of the efforts made to turn the native flax fibre to profitable account, there is no question but the gentlemen whose contributions to the Auckland section we have just noticed, have prepared samples of flax which are creditable to their ingenuity and skill. Mr. Neill Loyd has gone further than the others. The ten specimens of rope and line, manufactured by - him from the New Zealand flax, are the best proofs of its value in the • manufacture of cordage, to which purpose it must ultimately be applied if it is to go into general consumption as a raw material for manufactures. The lai’gest and best selection of minerals is the ease exhibited by Mr. Okas. Heaphy. The case contains twenty-nine varieties, among which we notice, gold and auriferous quartz from the Waiau, Coromandel harbour ; auriferous sand and quartz from Kapanga ; gold from Matawai ; moss agate, from Mercury island; agates and cornelians from Coromandel ; marble from Wangarei; eoai from the West Coast and Waikato ; copper ores from the Great Barrier and Kawau islands ; koko whai (native coloring pig- . inent) ; sulphur, silicate ; spar from Mercury bay ; scoria, volcanic glass, blue obsidian, limestone, lavas, fire clays, pumice •and lava, ochre from. Auckland tertiary beds, petrified woods, fossil ferns, and ailicious deposits from Roto Mahana.

There are fair specimens of building stone, and of fine blue lime stone taken from the surface of the Hunua’ caves ; of stalactite, lignite, lava, and quartz in lava similar to the vein recently bored through in a deep sinking at Onehuriga ; also of limestone from the Karaka, petrified coal from Mercury island, and black magnetic sand from St. George’s bay; , volcanic building stone from Mercury island ; thracytic. stone for building from Coromandel, and limestone from Otago. Several valuable, shells and putrefactions have been contributed.

The Rev. C. Volekner, Rev. J. Morgan, and Rev. G. Smales, forward a quantity of native garments or matting, war weapons, hatchets, &c. which form an interesting collection. Mr.. G. Webster exhibited a case containing Kiwi egg, hotete or vegetable caterpillar, puperrangi or land shells, paua or native fishing hooks. Messrs. Combes and Daldy forward twq samples of coffee from Rorotanga, South Sea islands ; also a sample of cotton from the same place. Mr. Edward King exhibits a specimen of cotton from Ovalau, Figis. The value of these commodities will be appreciated in England. Auckland does a large trade with many of the Pacific islands already, and we may reasonably hope to find it extended when cotton and coffee are more generally cub tivated.

Messrs. Comb,as and Baldy also exhibit two, samples, of guano, from the Coral Queen island, Pacific, which from the large per centage of phosphate of lime they contain are justly esteemed fertilisers.—Southern Cross, December ICL -