The Wairarapa Daily. MONDAY, AUGUST 3, 1885. THE EXHIBITION.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume VII, Issue 2058, 3 August 1885, Page 2

The Wairarapa Daily. MONDAY, AUGUST 3, 1885. THE EXHIBITION.

One more of the schemes by \vhioh Sir Julius Vogel is striving to gain popularity is just bearing fruit. We allude to the Industrial Exhibition, which was opened .in Wellington on Saturday. The country has been put to considerable expense,, a large and most unsightly building has; been erected only to be pulled down again, and a considerable quantity of manufactures of all descriptions has been placed on view in it. What remains to be done now in connection with the management is thejudging, Thereniainder must bo done by the public, -Judging by what took place on Saturday, the attendance is not likely to be veiy large, for the opening ceremony does not appear to have attracted" more people than about a tenth part of the whole population of the Empire City, and that, too, in the face of the fact that there was all the pomp in which a Vice-Regal party could clothe it. The steamers that have come to Wellington during the past week from either north or south carried no more passengers than they do while summer excursion tickets are in vogue, nor do any of the Companies owning tliein appear to have anticipated a largely increased traffic. Probably less than ine hundred residents in this district availed themselves ot the railway excursion tickets, The probabilities therefore are that the Exhibition will be a sort of white elephant, of but little use, of less ornament, and of very considerable expense. We are aware that exhibitions ot this kinds have their uses, and that good is done by bringing together the manufactures of the various parts of the colony; but we do not think that the colony is sufficiently advanced to support such undertakings in such a way as to make them a success, nor that it should be made to bear the expense, It was not proposed by Sir Julius Vogel on account of any benefits that would accrue to the colony from it, but simply as an extra item in the scheme which he put before the colony, and the glitter of which blinded so many. How the gloss has worn off is now a matter of history. We have yet one more act to wait for, 'however, namely, that in which Sir Julius Vogel shakes the dust of New Zealand from his feet, and returns to a more congenial cliine, That it is sure to be played ere long is a certainty, and we venture to think that with his departure the proposal to hold exhibitions at stated intervals will also disappear,