Christchurch Exhibition.

Progress, Volume II, Issue 10, 1 August 1907, Page 359

Christchurch Exhibition.

It seems that the loss which the treasury authorities are expecting to have to admit as the direct financial result of the Exhibition is something in the neighbourhood of £60,000. This is the probable debit balance of the accounts of the concern. Were there no other considerations in the case it might still be held with good show of reason that as a mere advertisment of the rapid development and present status of this country, the Exhibition has earned its cost, large as that cost looks on paper. Fortunately, however, there are in the case other considerations. In the Railways statement for the year 1906-7 just published, it may be seen that, on the one hand, the revenue collected during that financial period exceeded the takings of the preceeding period by £279,000, while, on the other, the estimate for the takings of the period succeeding — the period now current — is less than the revenue received during its predecessor by £75,000. We may fairly

Out of the ruck of the past year four subjects suggest themselves as imperatively requiring the attention of Parliamentary Committees, and the decision of Parliament. These are the new Murray Marine Structures ; the Mono-rail of Mr. Brennan ; the multiplication, for the various soils climates and elevations of this country, of the system of Experimental Farms which has proved so successful at I^evin, Momahaki, and Ruakura in the North Island ; and last but not least the forcing forward of some large comprehensive scheme of tree planting. The Marine Structures, and the Mono-rail speak for themselves, in connection with defence, harbour improvements, and roading. The need for the teaching of results under the varying conditions of our agriculture is selfevident. The fact that we de-forest 40,000 acres annually and replant but 1400, while our timber supply will not last more than 75 years, is alone sufficient to make the Legislature forsake all business to concentrate on the proper provision for the planting of trees.