OUR EXHIBITION LETTER.

Manawatu Times, Volume IV, Issue 87, 6 November 1880, Page 3

OUR EXHIBITION LETTER.

BY GNETRA. - -■ > No 11. WAtfT op Pateona&b.— A Photographic Joke. — GASTiiGHT and Gaiety. - Leisure and Pleasubb. — LrriiE Babel. — A Decided Want. — A 'Foßhons CntRAMAN. — SojiETnixa Like A Shop.— The Pavilion op the Sleeping Beauty.— A Full Desqbtption. — Inside and Out, ETC. ETC. ETC. Up to the present date the attendance at the Exhibition has been the, reverse of encouraging, An average of five thousand pvr diem, and one-half of these admitted by free passe . as pressmen, commissioners, ex hibitors, attendants, &0., is not a great nuin ber. Spread lh?~e over seven hours, and an area of a, million, square feet and you have about one visitor yar a thousand fc3o at any given time. Not much fear oi overcrowding at this rate ! The season tickets, $00, are going off but slowly. The )?dies object, to sending duplicates of their portraits without at least an Understanding as to what is to be done with the second photograph. A friend of mip3, who is always doing aome' eccentric thing," forwarded copies of his portrait as taken m 1848. He is now elaborating a letter to the Argus complaining of the stupvdity of the officials, as evidenced by their failing to recognise the beardless boy of twelVe m the hir'nifc mnn of forty-four. Atthougb. nothing has been definitely decided, as 'yet, concerning tlie'vexaia qutestio of opening at night, I fancy some compromise will be made between those ( who strenuously oppose the, ideal and. those ■vyho ardently advocate it. There is no doubt as we bad an opportunity of seeing on <jhe eve of. the; ls^ October, many of the exhibits gain an additional charm beneath mellowgTow:o7 artificial light. |And the people, top : »eem, somehow, less Iprim and . ill-at-ease by-gaslight than by daylight. The we We it on good

authority, is accustomed to take his pleasure sadly, and such of our colonists as are leal to traditional usages are so many broad-cloth-swathed mnmmies at a daylight feast. But lot the night fall, turn up the gas, and hey, presto ! with it you turn up the animal spirits of all but, the " meanest. " men. The facial runs and furrows, of the breadi winner are smooth ::l away, Uig rouge and rice-powdered cheek of beauty assumes ii.s rarest bloom— her bella-donn:i e.\o if s mo?t radiait glance— for with night, as Longfellow puts it — — " the e ires that irfest the day Shall fold up the : v tent-* like the Avab-, And as silently sfce 1 away." Thus, whether the theatrical managers continue to bleat of ruin, or the hotelkeepers threaten double- watered grog, I trust we shaJl have a few " evenings from home " m the Exhibition building, not exactly at "gaslight midnight, Life's true noon," but at all events " when the hou- 3 of daylight are past," whpn nil the humdrum horrors of the commercial Purgatory are over, and we are n-e to enter the Heaven of Leisure and Pleasure. One of the most ourious sights to be seen m connection with the Exhibition— or rather, owing its existence to ihe Exhibition — is Nissen's Cafe, Bourke street, on a Sunday evening. Nissen's for many .-years past lias been a favorite resort of dominoplaying, coffee-sipping, vrtit-verw loving Frenchmen and Germans ; but now to these are added from a dozen to a score of other nationalities. Seated together the other evening were two Germans, a Frenchman, a Dalmi'fcian, a Dane, two Spaniards, an Austro-Hungrian, an Italvm, and on bewildered Englishman, wlm, having the slightest sma^lei'ing of French and nn equally infinitesimal knowledge of G-errnan and L'al'fin, was trying to act us interpreter for the lor,. He might as well have endeavoured to play "whist with a eir-hre pack ! But there was ore language which all tbe"e miscellaneous gentlemen thoroughly understood. Whenever a pretty waitress passed, jtheir heads turred simultaneously, ps though by clockwork. Complaints aye made of the want of a cloak-room at the Exhibition. May I suggest another useful addition— a pa'wnbroking department. Twi :e I bad been on the verge or purchasing some exquisite trifle m the pottery section, but have- b"en preven;ed by that which overthrows empires, diverts the course, of '. he truest of all true love, makes princDj prigs, and JVI.P.'s plastic placome n _{,h c want of cash ! Now with an undo handy, and m J Oroide repeater lefii— for repairs — T might have induced my ta«te for Art and sipped my Souchong out of Sevres. It was a mournful sight to see an elderly Chinamaman intently regarding the six thousand chairs slacked m the nave after the opening day, and evidently mentally calculating " what might hare been," had not Fate, m the persons of the Commissioners, decided against Chinese upholstery. The sorrow. ul wag of that pig- tart, the lengthened visage, and the lons-drawn sigh from the deepe3s recesses of the Chinaman's inner consciousness, are stamped indelibly upon ray memory. I afterwards learned that two chains were missing from the heap. But this is a digression. I promised m my last, to give a more detailed description of one of the chief features m *-he manufacturing departments of this really great show, viz., Rocke and Co.'s exhibits. The Collins street show- rooms of this well-known, firm covers half-an-aere, ard are filled to overflowing with articles of euch exceptionable (a«te and qualify as to form a miniature Exhibition on their own account. A quantity of these articles are, of course, imported from leading housri m the home trade, but a large number of goods from the plainest cedar-table to the most elabo'-af .- drawing-room suite, aye manufactured on fie premises by the 150 employes of the firm. The windows facing Coll'os si- 3jnve filled with an artistic dis" play which would do credit to any London or Paris house. And by furniture it must be remembered, is ' iot alone meant tables ard cha'v , sofa- ami chest' of drawers but all movable', equipages, and decorations worn the Dresdei china m the drawmjj'jomtot.ie velvet hangings of my lady's I oudoir, from the hope of the family's barceaunelte to the fapsslvr drapned couch of his g ndfather's great-grandfather. To wander for an hour or so amongs; the endless var'ety of meulles at Rocke and Co.'s, and to p ; c .ure their future homes, is to weave quite a serfe: of romance^ of as many phases as the patterns of the articles themselves . And now as regards the special exhibits of tJis en jrpnVij fi rm . Imagine that some beneficent fairy, some kind-bearfced modem Asmode-s, has conducted- you to the exLerior of the Slrepirg Beauty's palace. A mpjic word, a wave of the wonder-work-ing wand, aad the side of tlia castle opens What dor- it reveal ? The par/lion of the Sleeping Beauty herself— the casket of the "one entire aud perfect chrysolite" that qu-nrose of the ro.ebuds,"' whose hundred year trance was end' l by her lover's kiss. The. casket is, but the jewel i 3 gone. Gone with her daring prince to become the pa-iner o" his joys, the mother of hts fanrly, the darner o2 his socks. As to the Casket, it - 3 gaardrd at the entrance by two life-si;'e bronze figures, holding candelabra, .and fairy representative of the petrified altendantsjof the nursery siory. Paas these mute wavders, and ycu enter a spacious bed-cramber who-e leading features may be briefly summed up f i follows .—The walls aye painted aid ornn merited m exquisite d-vgns of delate blue and silver, dado, frei c, ard p nolling J'ke, yet unlike m the'rb- u'-y— the. pa.ielled ceiling carrying out fcheccmipleteues-i o,' the whole, |while suspend? X "rom the centre a crystal chandelier catches and reflects" the sunlight of the day or fc'ie gaslight of the night m a thousaid .r^ubowrd prisms. The floor, on whose polished surface the dautiesfc lady's ivory fe;t might < r »ad without a soiling ck of dust, is all inlaid wil."i Native wood tieHuoa piie and b'jictwood formiug v fine contrast. Tbe wnidosrs are crowned with cornice- of gold, and hung with valances and cuvla'ns of turquoise blue, p c and pink, silver, aad real laco. The mantelpiece is noli with curious inlaid work m ebony and ho.'y, Huonpine, and blackvrood surmounted by a massivo tniv-or and a panelled painl.iog representing Night, m the form of a floai ing female figure, " veLWiyr i\- » seizing sun with clouds of mist." A cfock, oandelabras, and vases of the purest Dresden chiua ornament the nrantelp.'ece, and round the room a>*e .'ounges, easy obr.'rs, a, writing-table, and other furnitut'e of tbe choicest mate, 'al and design. Ore? the centre of the parqiet floor is spread a carpet, a supeub Ant 'osier, m:de wit out a ' seam, after the celebrated Lduis Q.uatorr.e pattern. Last but not least, tbe bed •'tse'f, the core of all tho love 1: ie?s, is draped " i curfca"ns and hangings of silver, turquoise and pale pink, and covered by a count epane of real lar-e over faintly t'nlsd shades of pink and blue, wibii laca-lri Timed sheets and pillows— the vei ? nest of innocence and peaceful slumber, *' But i this, costly and elegant as it is, does not constitute, the whole of Messrs Itacke arid Co.^s exhibits. ' P ?und the outer walls ol the fah-y ohamber are dist plays of f mature and doeorafcions suited for the.Tarious apavfcn\ents. to be found m evfc.y m6d«rri'mansion. 'Thus* the southern' outside wall represent* a dining-room, the frifat bting paiaUd ia p«u«li wiili pi,otur#i

llusl rating various stages of sport, with a diaper and dndo to match, while a massive find magnificent; sideboard, of the early English style, and carved m rich relief, is surrounded by other diningroom furniture of the liandspmest description, including antique Venetian bronze plates and gln.^ps, and jugs, and vases of rare pattern. Tho eastern wall is set. apart for the dispiaj for diMwingroom doeoi-afcions, consisting of neutral tints, suitable for the proper set-ting-off of Arc furniture. Here is shown a curious early English cabinet m thuynwood and ebony, gilt, incised ornaments and inlaid with ebony, holly, purple, beef, orange, and palm woods, and ivory, -with punel flgm us painted m gold ground, &c. &c, A beautiful satin wood cabinet, with panels of classical figiu'ei painted on a pale blue ground, with a Venetian glass back ; a black and gold jardiniere of exquisite design ; splendid black and gold cornices ; curtains and draperies of dead old gold velvet and plush— all these aud more arj to be s«en ; while on the northern vvnll are bedroom furniture of blackwood and, decorations of burnished silver. Taken pl'ogether, Meisrs Bocke and Oo.'b exhibit is one of the most prominent attractions of the Exhibition, an,d when we consider the fact that the greater portion of the articles (above described are colonial-made, designec and carried out solely by the artists and workmen employed by the firm, we cannot but hope that the enterprise thus evinced will have its just reward. I never thought that the inspection of furniture exhibits could possibly have imbued me wilh the impostic feelings I experienced m viewing tbe Chamber of the Sleeping Beauty ; but you perceive, my dear readers, what an extraordinary effect circumjacent articles have upon the mind. Take my advice, and bring up your- children m the midst of artistic surroundings. Let your chairs and tables be of a period, and to mat eh ; your dadoes, a friezes and panellings m dee keeping with the rest, your vegetable dishes porcelain, your fenders antique bronzes, and you will reap a rich reward. Writing this, as I do, sealed upon a Windsor chai?, at a deal table, I feel acutely that Art and Art alone i 3 what wo want.