THE CENTENARIES.

Waikato Times, Volume XXXI, Issue 2520, 4 September 1888, Page 2

THE CENTENARIES.

[from ODR OWN COIiUKRPONnENT].

At the Exhibition things are quiet, and the attendance has been but mediocre. I had the felicity of spending nearly the whole of Saturday there, and had a very long, tiring day among the exhibit!!. The eating arrangements in the building are simply execrable ; it is purely and perfectly impossible to get a decent meal in the place. There was rather a rush of people at the varions restaurants on Saturday evening, and the result was simply scandalous. My companions and myself could get nothing at all for nearly half-an-hour, and then were favoured with a piece of nausoous steak, some dry bread, and a cup of lukewarm tea. This was all we could possibly procure, and the charge was eighteenpence each. I have heard nothing but the strongest censure on all hands regarding the eating arrangements, and I needn't explain to my readers how much good meals enter into the day's enjoyment. The consequence is, people go away home towards dinner time, and so the Exhibition gets emptied of hnndreds whe otherwise would have stopped the evening out. A bad state of affairs, and I hope they will be rectified.

By-the-way, touching upon this, I cannot help saying how foolishly and injudiciously the Commissioners have acted in many ways. Take for instance those exhibitors who aro engaged in the manufacture ot confectionery. Space and motive power have been granted to them free, and so with little expense these gentry do a roaring trade. They have no rent to pay, no gas, no machinery to keep going—»U is done for them by the obliging Commissioners. Then some thousands of people a day are brought to them, all out pleasuring, all with money to spend, all eager to watch the interesting process of lolly-making. Contrast this with the lot of the ordinary street confectioner, whose customers are few and far between, and then decide as to whether the Commissioners could not have obtaiued a good round sum for the privileges they have to offer to such people. I notice there is some talk of officially inviting Kalakaua, king of Hawaii, to Melbourne during Exhibition time, but for what particular reason I cannot find out. "We are too democratic a community to care for kinps," the Cliiof Secretary said, talking over the matter, " but it might be profitable for a syndicate to run him." A much more sensible matter is the projected idea of getting the Hawaiian king's military band out to play in the Exhibition grounds. The conductor, I am told, has already offered his services and those of his thirty-six dusky musicians. We certainly want some band music in the building, and I am pleased to see wy good old friend George Coppin has come forward with an offer of the services of the Gordon Drum and Fife Band, which the authorities have accepted. At last, therefore, there is a good chance of the Exhibition becoming a really popular place of resort, full of lifo and animation—but it won't be due to the Commissioners.