EXHIBITIONISM RUN MAD.

Gisborne Standard and Cook County Gazette, Volume II, Issue 275, 19 March 1889, Page 2

EXHIBITIONISM RUN MAD.

The colonies seem to be going Exhibition mad, and the show business has grown until it has become an aggravated evil instead of a boon to commerce. The worst feature of it all is that these exhibitions profit the very class of people who are least deserving of it, and who are the last ones who might be applied to for assistance commensurate with the profits they make. The principle, a worthy one when carried out honorably and in due season, has given birth to vast shams, meant for no other purpose than the aggrandising of a few at the expense of the many. We have not the slightest objection to the Dunedin people organising as many Exhibitions as they like provided they do it upon their own responsibility and are willing to meet the losses, out of the profits they hope to realise in other ways, but we are surprised at the people of' the colony tolerating the huge burden which is now sought to be imposed upon it, The lesson taught by the Melbourne " monstrosity ” ought to be sufficient to guard this colony against entering upon anything of the kind at the present time. The Government, we are now told, have stepped in with a subsidy of £lO,OOO. We suppose they have all the power necessary to do so, but at the same time we should very much like that some method could be found of making them atone for this extravagance by putting their hands into their own pockets. There is a great deal too much of this patriotism”—at other people’s expense. The Dunedin Exhibition can be nothing more than a show supported by the New Zealand people themselves, who will have quite enough to do if they are to be capable of any manly effort towards retrieving the colony’s lost position. Some are mad er,ongh to tell us that these Exhibitions would be one of the main factors towards thatepd, but that under the present circumstances Is nothing more than self-deception, After the Adelaide and Melbourne Exhibitions, anything that New Zealand can hope to organise njust be very tame indeed. It is not likely to attract visitors from Australia, and the people here have more needful ways of spending their mopey than they have money to spend. A correspondent in ft Wellington paper puts the matter very He Bays To aete the Government to contribute from £BOOO to £10.900 to an pbject at a time when, notwithstanding our terrible (taxation, a u» lasoms oaa barslyw W s«t

our expenditure, seems to me as immoral as it is foolish. If we wish to draw visitors, the true way to do so is to make the Hot Lakes District, Taupo, the Southern Lakes, the West Coast fiords, and our many other show places easily accessible by means of roads and other conveniences. A few thousands spent in this direction would (and this is all the Exhibition will do even if successful) bring a return for a montbs only, but would be capital well invested, giving an ever-increasing interest in the shape of tourists from all parts of the world, besides being a blessing to ourselves, who have the first claim to be considered in the expenditure of our money. n We know we shall be accused of jealousy, selfishness, narrow-mindedness and other equally unpleasant charges because we happen to raise a protest in opposition ; but we are quite prepared for all that, and can regard it in the light of a compliment to our outspokenness. The Government subsidy is an imposture, and the show is of a kind which has been overdone for the present. A couple of years hence it might do very well, and might be of considerable benefit from an utilitarian point of view. Now that it has gone so far we should much regret that it were other than successful, because if it failed, the Colony as a whole would be a sufferer, as the black mark would not only be against the few people who have initiated the affair—it would be against the Colony. It was a mistake for the Government to interfere in the matter, but having done so the Colony is now in a great measure responsible.