The Wairarapa Daily. THUESDAY MARCH 21, 1889. The Dunedin Exhibition.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume X, Issue 3159, 21 March 1889, Page 2

The Wairarapa Daily. THUESDAY MARCH 21, 1889. The Dunedin Exhibition.

One of the shams of the nineteenth century is undoubtedly the exhibition craze, 'Of course the beautiful and wonderful exhibition of 1851 was not in any Bense of the term a sham. It embodied a great idea of peace on earth and goodwill toward man, and was the outcome of a desire to bind nations together by new and better ties. Now-a-days there is no sentiment in exhibitions; they are simply big advertising ventures, and are promoted by hosts of trained experts, with whom exhibition making is a speciality. Give them the guarantee they ask for and they will at once set iin motion all the wires essential to success, Illimitable and colossal begging and touting is the next feature in their programme. Almost every public and private individual in the community is harassed to give something, or do something, or make some concession. What an exhibition really costs is never known.. It is ever a fearful vortex for hard earned money and never a commercial success, In vain do managers seek to supplement the intrinsic features of an exhibition by side shows, by tumbling and play acting, for even with these extraneous aids the income

fails to cover the expenditure, Of course if our own prospective exhibition at Dunedin we organised only as a commercial speculation, there could be no possible objection to it; but we are informed that the Government have promised' £IO,OOO from the colonial chest to aid it, and when public money is voted to such an institution its utility maybe fairly challenged. It will be at once pointed out that we had an exhibition a few years ago in Wellington and that it would be extremely ill natured after that to throw cold water on'a sjinilar enterprise at Dunedin. We are, however, scarcely I prepared to admit thisi'pj'tipn. When Bir Julius Vogel was arranging' political support from various parts of the colony, he offered little bribes' to Auckland, Wellington, Christ-! church, and Dunedin. It was quite understood a] the time that Wellington's share-pan exhibition-was the ! least valuable of the little jig theuiaaaeattlieexpense of tlieicplonyi' If Borne of the more important centres of New Zealand have not had an Exhibition,, they had more than an equivalent for the one awarded to Wellington. What we fear now is thatW.H.B's from Auokland, Wellington, Nelson, and Christchurch, will in that spirit of sdlfihness, which is the soul of polities','say to Sir Henry Atkinson, if you give Dunedin SIO,OOO for an.exhibition you must give w Something ejse

which will place us on a level.footing with 1 our Scotch friends. ;Itia quit© pbssible'tliat the grant of £IO,OOO to the ; Duhedih Exhibition may, mean the squandering of •■ £60,000 or £60,000 about the rest of the Colony, Our provincial capitals are liko young birds in a nest. They are usually all open-mouthed together. But who wants an exhibition ? As far as advertising our manufactures goes, more good could be done for muoli less money at either Melbourne or Paris. The Colony is being flogged up for an exhibition, about which most jeople are very indifferent, At the present time economy and hard work is, supposed to be the rule of both the State and the community. The exoitement- and extravagance which attends the development, of an intercolonial exhibition craze is at the present time simply bad for us. In two or three years time when the affairs of the Colony have been brought into a satisfactory condition and we have shown that we can meet our engagements without borrowed money, a colonial exhibition would be a right and proper thing. During our present." Baokcloth and ashes" stage it is a piece of foolishness.