WOOL EXHIBITION AT THE CRYSTAL PALACE, 1881 (CORRESPONDENCE RESPECTING).

Appendix to the Journals of the House of Representatives, 1881 Session I, H-32

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1881. NEW ZEALAND

WOOL EXHIBITION AT THE CRYSTAL PALACE, 1881 (CORRESPONDENCE RESPECTING).

Presented to both Houses of the General Assembly by Command of His Excellency.

No. 1. The Agent-G-eneeaii to the Hon. the Coiohial Secretaby. Sim, — 7, Westminster Chambers, London, S.W., 13th August, 1880. I have the honor to transmit, for the information of the G-overnment, a circular letter, &c, which I have received from the Crystal Palace Company respecting an exhibition of wool and manufactories, &c, which it is proposed to hold in 1881. I have, in reply, suggested that the circular might with advantage be sent to the Chambers of Commerce and Agricultural and Pastoral Associations in the colony I have, &c, JUXIUS VoffEL, The Hon. the Colonial Secretary, Wellington. Agent-General.

Enclosure in No. 1. [CIRCTJXAB.] Sib,— Crystal Palace, Sydenharn, S.E., 10th August, 1880. I have the honor to inform you that the Directors of the Crystal Palace Company have determined to hold a series of International Exhibitions, commencing next year with one chiefly devoted to wool and its industrial appliances, and the machinery connected therewith, of which a programme is forwarded. As all nations are more or less interested in the woollen manufacture, the Directors trust that they may have the benefit of your official influence in making the intended Exhibition generally known, and will also be glad to be favoured with any practical suggestions from you calculated to promote the objects aimed at —namely, the extension of commercial relations between nations. I have, &c, P L. SIMMONDS, Superintendent of the International Exhibition The Hon. the Colonial Secretary Department.

Cbystal Palace.—International Exhibition Department.—Exhibition for 1881: Wools, "Woollen Manufactures, and Allied Industries. Commencing in June and ending in October. No charge will be made to exhibitors for space. Medals and certificates of merit will be awarded by competent jurors to be appointed. The Directors will furnish motive-power for working machinery free ; but any driving-belts, connections, or attachments required must be made at the expense of the exhibitors. All applications from intending exhibitors must furnish full particulars of the space required, and the objects intended to be shown, and be sent in to the Superintendent before the Ist January, 1881. After careful consideration and revision by the Directors of the demands received, due notice will be given to the applicants whether any and what space can be granted them. Groods intended for exhibition must be delivered, with freight and all charges paid, by a date to be hereafter fixed. The cases must be addressed to the Superintendent, International Exhibition Department, Crystal Palace, bearing some mark or number, and accompanied with a detailed invoice of the contents. The cases will then be handed over to the duly-authorized agent of the exhibitor to open and arrange. Due notice of the appointment of an agent by an exhibitor must be forwarded to the Superintendent for approval and sanction by the Ist April, 1881. If he is required to attend at the stand daily, a free pass into the Palace will be granted him for the term of the Exhibition, subject to the approval of the Directors, who, however, reserve the power to withdraw the pass whenever they may consider it desirable.

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In the case of exhibitors who may not think it necessary to appoint an agent or attendant, the Superintendent will, on due request made by the 10th of the month of April, employ some official to give information, who will install and arrange the goods at the exhibitor's charge. Endeavours will be made to obtain for exhibitors favourable terms for freight by railroad and steamboat. All show-cases, stands, shelves, and other fittings must be erected at the charge of the exhibitor, and subject to the approval of the Superintendent. All objects shown must be numbered and properly labelled and described, with the maker's or exhibitor's name, address, and, if possible, the price at which similar articles will be sold. The Directors of the Crystal Palace Company will not on any account be responsible for loss or damage, from whatever cause arising, to cases, fittings, or any articles exhibited. Exhibitors can effect insurance on their own account. Exhibitors must furnish the necessary information for the Official Catalogue before the Ist March, 1881. Those desirous of advertising in the catalogue must make their application to the Superintendent by the Ist May, 1881, for the necessary arrangements to be made for such insertion, and for the amount of payment thereof. Exhibitors must conform to all rules laid down by the Directors. A detailed programme of the various classes of goods admissible can be obtained on application to the undersigned. P L. Simmokds, Superintendent of the International Exhibition Department, Crystal Palace, Sydenham.

The Great International Exhibitions, which commenced in the United Kingdom in 1851, have in the course of time grown too large and expensive to be carried out in their entirety without considerable loss, and there appears to be no present prospect of their being resumed in England on the general extended scale. The Crystal Palace being the offspring of the first great British. International Exhibition, the Directors are desirous, as far as possible, of carrying out the original intentions and objects contemplated —namely, of affording manufacturers and the public, home and foreign, the opportunity of noting the progress which has been made in different countries in the arts, manufactures, and various industries, by the application of science and invention. Having space at command, motive-power for machinery, two millions of visitors annually, an organized staff, and a close connection with the chief industrial, artistic, and scientific societies, with many other advantages possessed nowhere else, and ten years having elapsed since the last official annual Exhibitions were commenced, the Directors have arranged to hold a series of special International Exhibitions of different classes of manufactures. They will commence in 1881 with an International Exhibition of wool and its varied applications and manufactures, with those of a few allied products, and of the machinery and implements relating thereto. The demand for wool has increased with marvellous rapidity, and this raw material is produced more or less largely in all countries. But it is to the Australian and African Colonies that Europe is now mainly indebted for its supplies of superior merino wool. Of the 411,000,000 Ib. of wool imported into this country in 1879, nearly 355,000,000 lb. came from the British Possessions. The woollen manufacture now ranks second in importance of the British textile industries, wool being much preferred to any other material for nearly all clothing purposes. Although London is the centre of supply of wool, to the Continent, and buyers are attracted here in large numbers, yet an interchange of manufactured products takes place even between competing countries. Buyers who come over to London to attend the periodical wool sales have little opportunity of examining, in the confusion and competition of the sale-rooms, the characters and qualities of the raw wools exposed, or of ascertaining the names of the wool-growers. A more leisurely and advantageous opportunity will be afforded to purchasers and manufacturers, in the proposed Exhibition, to examine all classes of wools and hair, and the fabrics made with them, and to obtain details of progress, improvements, prices, machinery, &c.

PEOGEAMME OP OBJECTS ADMISSIBLE. I.—Sheep's Wool. Raw Wools. —Fleece wool, skin wool, lambs' wool, fine merino, combing wool, clothing wool, lustre wool, demi-lustre, down and naif-bred, extract wool, woollen rags for shoddy andmungo, woollen flocks for paperhangings, dressed sheep and lamb skins, coats and caps made of them. Prepared Wools and Manufactures. —Woollen yarn, worsted yarn, genappe yarn, fingering yarns for knitting and embroidery "Woollen Mantjfacttjkes. Broadcloths, Coatings, Duffels, Sfc, Plain, AM Wool, or Mixed with other Materials. Army cloths, doeskin, cassimeres, sataras, Venetians, meltons, beavers, deerskins, diagonals, pilots, reversibles, devons, Spanish stripes, fancy coatings, victoria twills. Narrow Cloths, Coatings, Duffels, Sfc, of Wool, or Mixed with other Materials. Trouserings —Bedford cords, kerseymeres, elastics. Sealskins, astracans, doeskins, chinchillas, poiarians. Shoddy and raungo fabrics, frieze, tweeds, tartans, horse-rugs, saddle-cloths, carriage-cloihs, fancy rugs and mauds, blankets and blanketing, billiard-cloths, baize and serge, tablecovers, coverlets, railway rugs and wraps, felt of wool or hair for rollers, hats, gloves, shoes, &c.

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Carpets. —Tapestry, velvet-pile, or Axminster Brussels and "Wilton, Kidderminster, Scotch or common, felt or drugget, Persian, Turkish, African or Morocco, Indian, Silesian. Worsted Fabrics, all Wool. —Satteens, reps, cords, serges, mohairs, moreens, coatings, plainbacks, merinoes and sayes, Paramattas, camlets, bunting for flags, Albert cords, Persian cords, chene poplins, alpaca cloths, furniture stuffs and upholstery fabrics, plushes and velvets, tapestry curtains, Berlin woolwork, embroidery, fringes and trimmings of wool or mixed materials, gold-embroidered cloaks and tablecovers. Worsted Stuff's, mixed ivith Cotton Warps or other Materials. —Crapes, coburgs, barege, damasks (figured or fancy), taffetas, veloutine, bombazine, Paramatta, tammies, summer cloth, delaines, lastings, Canton cloths, Orleans cloths, chones, challies, lenos, checked poplins, fancy tweeds, gambroons, Irish poplins. Shawls. —Shetland, Austrian, Belgian, French, Cashmero (long and square) Union Cloths. Hosiery and Small Wares. ll.—Goats' Wool ob Mohair. Raio Wools. —Angora or mohair, Cashmere, Koork, Pashum or shawl wool of the Thibet goat common goats' wool, goats, skins with the wool on. Fabrics and Manufactures. —Dress fabrics, brilliantines, Utrecht velvet, mohair mixed fabrics, mohair lace and braids, goats' hair cloth, rugs, sacks, forensic wigs. lll.—Alpaca, Llama, and Vicuna. Raw wool of various colours, yarn and fabrics of alpaca, &c. IV. —Camels' Hair. Haw wool of different colours, shawl wool, shawls, carpets, tent-cloth. V.—Cow Hair. Ropes, sacks, blankets, carpets, felt (and other fabrics made of it), yak wool or hair, moose hair, and other hair. VI.—HORSE-lIAIR FEOM DIFPEEENT COUNTRIES. Drawn hair, fabrics made of it, horse-hair seating of different colours, horse-hair bags, horse-hair gloves and flesh-rubbers, horse-hair wigs, brushes, sieves. VII. —Human Hair. Various applications of it for twists and strong rope, hairwork and fancy ornaments, braids, wigs, and other coverings for the head, VIII. —Coney, oe Eabbits' Wool. Tarn and fabrics made of these wools, hare wool, economic applications, as hats and felted fabrics, hare-skin chest-protectors, caps, and clothing. IX. —Skins op Fur-bearing Animals, Rough and Peepaeed. Bear skins and articles made of them, buffalo robes, fur-seal skins (dressed and undressed), beaver skins, otter and sea otter, sable and ermine, marten and mink, fox and monkey skins, chinchilla, squirrel, and other minor fur-bearing animals, fur gloves, fur cloaks, fur muff's and boas, fur hats, carriage furs, skin mats. X.—Bird Skins and Feathers, fob Clothing, Ornament, oe Fabrics. Saw Materials. —Swan skin, goose skin, penguin skin, grebe, ostrich feathers, paddy feathers, marabou feathers, vulture (rhea) feathers, peacock feathers, egret plumes, birds of paradise, hummingbirds, other bright-plum aged birds. Prepared Applications.—Feather muffs, feather trimmings for dresses, feather jewellery, feather fans and fly-flappers, feather mats and rugs, feather plumes, feather flowers and ornaments, swansdown puffs, eiderdown quilts, and other economic applications of feathers. Xl.—Drawings, Paintings, Prints, and other Representations of tiie Wool- and Fuebeaeing Animals, and Birds yielding useful Feathers. XII. —Machinery, Implements, and Tools uskd in Woollen and Worsted Manufactures, WHETHER WORKED BY HAND OR BY POWER. Bleaching and Dyeing Materials. Descriptive Published Woeks and Statistical Tables, Prints, etc., describing Wool and Woollkn Manufactures and Occupations, or the Commerce in them, and those of Hair, Fur, Feathers, etc.

No. 2. The Hon. the Colonial Secretary to the Agent-General. Sib,— Colonial Secretary's Office, Wellington, 19th October, 1880. I have the honor to inform you that your letter of the 13th August last, No. 705, with its enclosures, respecting an Exhibition of wool and manufactories, &c, which it is proposed to hold in the Crystal Palace in 1881, has been published in the New Zealand Gazette. I have, &c, The Agent-General for New Zealand, London. Thomas Dick,

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No. 3. The Hon. the Colonial Secretary to the Agent-General. Sib,— Colonial Secretary's Office, Wellington, 6th November, 1880. Adverting to my letter of the 19th ultimo, I have the honor to request you to be good enough to apply to the Directors of the Crystal Palace Company on behalf of this colony for 1,500 square feet of space at the Exhibition of wool, &c, which it is proposed to hold there next year. Farther instructions on the subject will be sent to you shortly 1 have, &c, The Agent-General for New Zealand, London. Thomas Dick.

No. 4 The Hon. the Colonial Secretary to the Agent-General. Sir, — Colonial Secretary's Office, Wellington, 2nd December, 1880. Eeferring to your letter of the 13th August last, enclosing a circular letter which you had received from the Crystal Palace Company respecting a Wool Exhibition to be held in 1881,1 have the honor to transmit for your information the copy of a circular letter which I have addressed to the Chambers of Commerce and the principal wool-growers in New Zealand, inviting their co-operation in the projected Exhibition. I shall be glad to learn that, in compliance with the request conveyed in my letter of the 6th ultimo, you have succeeded in obtaining a space of 1,500 feet for the accommodation of New Zealand exhibitors. I have now to request that you will be so good as to make the necessary arrangements for the reception of such packages as may be sent to you in accordance with the instructions given in the circular of the Crystal Palace Company enclosed in Mr. Siminonds's letter of the 10th August. The packages are to be delivered free of charge of every description; but all expenses of removal, storage, and exhibition subsequently incurred are to be paid by you. A remittance shall be at once made to you upon the receipt of your estimate of the amount you are likely to require. I have, &c, The Agent-General for New Zealand, London, Thomas Dick.

Enclosure in No 4. [CIBCTJLAE.] Sir, — Colonial Secretary's Office, Wellington, 12th November, 1880. I have the honor to forward to you copies of the New Zealand Gazette, containing a circular letter from the London Crystal Palace Company, respecting an International Exhibition of wool and its industrial appliances, proposed to be held in the Crystal Palace during 1881. The New Zealand Agent-General in London has been instructed to apply for 1,500 feet of space in the Exhibition, so that the colonists may have an opportunity of showing to the best advantage possible —in a place that will doubtless be visited by a great number of persons interested in the wool trade of England and of Europe —the various kinds of wool produced iv this colony I need hardly state that the advantages resulting from a proper representation of this staple product, on such an occasion, may be many and great; and I trust }'ou will co-operate in securing the transmission to London of samples which will secure for the colony such a representation. The Agent-General will be instructed to receive all packages for the Exhibition that may be sent to him in accordance with the instructions given in the circular. The packages must reach the AgentGeneral free of charge; but he will be empowered to defray all subsequent expense, as regards their removal to and their exhibition in the Crystal Palace. They should be addressed— ;l Oare of AgentGeneral for New Zealand, 7, Westminster Chambers, Victoria Street, London, B.W " An endeavour will be made to forward to the Crystal Palace the wool exhibits that may be shown in Melbourne ; but there is much uncertainty as to the manner in which the colony may be represented in Melbourne, and as to the time at which exhibits could be sent thence. It is clearly desirable, therefore, in a matter of so much interest to New Zealand, that this source should not be trusted to for samples calculated adequately to represent New Zealand wools at the Crystal Palace Exhibition. I have, &c, Thomas Dick, ■■!....,—.i — Colonial Secretary

No. 5. The Agent-General to the Hon. the Colonial Secketaby. Sib, —■ 7, Westminster Chambers, London, S.W., 31st December, 1880. Eeferring to your letter No. 185, of the 6th November, directing me to apply for 1,500 feet of space at the forthcoming International Wool Exhibition at the Crystal Palace, 1 have the honor herewith to transmit copy of letter which I have received from the Superintendent of the Exhibition, by which you will see that the date for receiving individual applications for space has been extended to the Ist April. I have, &c, JULIUS VOGEL, The Hon. the Colonial Secretary, Wellington. Agent-General.

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No. 6. Mr. Simmonds to Sir Julius Vogel. Sic, — Crystal Palace, Sydenham, S.E., 30th December, 1880. I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 29th instant, applying on the part of the Government of New Zealand for 1,500 square feet of space at the forthcoming International Exhibition of Wool, &c, which shall be reserved for the colony, as requested. I shall feel obliged if you will take the opportunity of communicating officially that the date for receiving individual applications for space to exhibit raw wools and manufactures has been extended to the Ist April. The limit of Ist January was chiefly intended to get m applications for exhibiting machinery in motion, which require foundations and shafting, and our machinery courts will be filled with wool-washing machines, looms, and all the most recent and improved machinery, home and foreign. I have, &c, Sir Julius Vogel, X.C.M.C. P L. Simmonds.

No. 7 The Hon. the Colonial Secretary to the Agent-General. Sib, — Colonial Secretary's Office, Wellington, 21st March, 1881. 1 have the honor to inform you, in reference to your letter No. 16, of the 25th January, that the responses to the invitation given by the Government for the transmission of wool to the Sydenham Exhibition have, owing to the shortness of time allowed and to other reasons, been so disappointing that it is feared the colony will not be satisfactorily represented. I have therefore to request that you will be good enough to make an effort to obtain by purchase through a broker in London such exhibits of New Zealand wool as will satisfactorily represent at the Crystal Palace this staple product of the colony. I enclose a statement of the exhibits forwarded, so far as is known to the Government. Tou are authorized to incur any expense you may find necessary in providing for the colony being creditably represented at the Exhibition. I have, &c, The Agent-General for New Zealand, London. Thomas Dick. P.S.—Your telegram stating you will do what you can in this matter is just received.—T.D. 21st March, 1881.

Enclosure in No 7. Statement of Exhibits Forwaeded. Mawke's Bay: Douglas, D. Gollan (1 bale), C. and J Nairn (2 bales), Tanner (2 bales), E. P Williams. Auckland: James Wallace. Canterbury : W L. Peter (2 cases). Otago: Young and Dalgety

No. 8. The Agent-General to the Hon. the Colonial Secretary. Sic, — 7, Westminster Chambers, London, S.W., 25th January, 1881. I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter No. 192, of the 2nd December, transmitting copy of a circular letter which you have addressed to the Chambers of Commerce and principal wool-growers in New Zealand, respecting the proposed Wool, &c, Exhibition at the Crystal Palace. In accordance with your instructions I will make arrangements for the reception of such packages as may be sent to me, and for their transmission to the Crystal Palace. The cost of conveyance from the ship to the Exhibition will not be much, and the amount of the same will depend upon the quantity which will be sent, the particulars of which you will have knowledge of in the colony In any case the expenditure to be incurred in this matter by the Government can be charged against the general imprest. 1 have, &c, Julius Vogel, The Hon. the Colonial Secretary, Wellington. Agent-General.

No. 9. The Agent-Genebal to the Hon. the Premieb. Sib,— 7, Westminster Chambers, London, S.W., 21st March, 1881. I received on the 11th instant your telegram desiring me to endeavour to procure exhibits of wool for the Crystal Palace Wool Exhibition, and on the 19th I sent you a telegram to say 1 would do so if I could. 1 have spoken to several people connected with the wool business on the subject, and have arranged to meat and talk it over. At present Ido not see my way, under the conditions relating to the Exhibition, to carry out your object in a way to do credit to the colony, and unless this can be thoroughly done it would be no use to attempt it. I have, &c, F D. Bell, The Hon. the Premier, Wellington. Agent-General.

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No. 10. The Agent-General to the Hon. the Colonial Secretary. Sir, — 7, Westminster Chambers, London, 8.W., 19th May, 1881. I have to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 21st March, relating to exhibits of New Zealand wool at the approaching Crystal Palace Exhibition. I have already said to the Government that there were many difficulties in the way of carrying out their wishes, and that it would hardly be worth while attempting it unless it could be done creditably to the colony Some of these difficulties will have at once suggested themselves to every one familiar with wool-growing ; but perhaps the worst was that no good New Zealand wools could be got until the May-June sales, while the Exhibition itself would be opened on the 2nd June, before the sales were over. However, I have done my best to get over the difficulties, and have arranged with some of the largest brokers to buy during the sales the best examples the market can give of the various sorts of wool grown in the colony In some quarters I meet with help, in others with apathy and indifference ; but I have set people to work who mean to make the thing a success if it can be done, and we shall spare no pains about it. I have already got some bales, and shall soon have all I want, though I may have to buy more than I can use and sell again afterwards, as the best marks are seldom put up in the small lots that would suit our purpose. Most likely I shall have to take a couple of rooms near the Crystal Palace, as, in order to do any good when the wool is ready, I must attend to it for some time early and late. In the meanwhile I send you reports of the Honorary Council and Palace Superintendent, which were presented to a meeting held at the Mansion House on the 11th instant, the Lord Mayor in the chair. H.U.H. the Duke of Connaught will open the Exhibition, and it is likely to attract a good deal of interest. You will see that some of the great London guilds will give gold medals to be competed for, and that there will be a good representation of the woollen manufacture. When the reports 1 enclose were read at the Mansion House, I called attention to the stipulation that wool could only be shown by the breeder. This afforded the opportunity for explaining the steps lam taking at your desire, and much satisfaction was expressed at the Government having taken such practical interest in the Exhibition ; and I think the other colonies may perhaps wish they had done the same. The Lord Mayor thanked me for the suggestions I had made, and it was promised that time should be given to me for exhibiting, and that the conditions of the medals should be reconsidered, so as not to exclude your exhibits from competing for the guild prizes. I have, &c, F D. Bell, The Hon. the Colonial Secretary, "Wellington. Agent-General.

No. 11. The Agent-General to the Hon. the Premier. Sir,— 7, Westminster Chambers, London, S.W., 28th June, 1881. In continuation of my letter of the 19th May (No. 399), I have now to inform you of what I have done to carry out your instructions respecting the Wool Exhibition at the Crystal Palace. I have already mentioned to you that the difficulties in the way of making a good show of New Zealand wools, in the absence of private exhibits, would be obvious to any one acquainted with the wool business. On the other hand, the very circumstance of there not being a number of competitors showing their own produce, offered the opportunity of doing what in one sense perhaps might be eveu better in the interests of the colony —namely, making a show to represent, more fully than private exhibits could in a commercial point of view, the various kinds of wool which New Zealand produces. This, at any rate, was the object I set myself to accomplish. It was not worth while, however, to do it at all unless it was done thoroughly For this purpose I commissioned in the first place a number of the leading wool-brokers to buy during the course of the present wool sales about thirty bales, to be carefully selected by themselves from the best brands. These were to be shown in bulk, the varieties of merino, crossbred, and long wools being labelled in their respective classes of greasy, washed, and scoured fleece. Prom these bales I then arranged to select the best fleeces, to be shown in glass cases, with labels properly describing the several sorts and their values in the market, and naming the part of the colony from which they came. In this way the Government exhibits, added to the few others which had been sent by private growers on your invitation, were intended to represent as completely as circumstances allowed the character of all the wools grown in the colony The work, which has taken a good deal of time and care, is very nearly finished. The bales have all been opened out in a way to show the wool to the best advantage, while the fleeces to be shown under glass have been separately dressed in an attractive manner. I am glad to say the result has been successful, your Government having made a show which is certainly the best of its kind in the Exhibition. It may, perhaps, be as well that I should say a few words about the Exhibition itself. In the first place, I should again note what is familar to you, that the Crystal Palace Company made a great mistake in fixing for this Exhibition a date which allowed no time for private growers in any wool-pro-ducing country to show their own wools. The absence of so desirable a competition at once spoilt the idea of an "international" show ; and, so far as any international display of the raw material is concerned, the Company's scheme was sure from the first to be a failure. Indeed, outside of New Zealand and the liepublic of Uruguay (which contributes a very good show of South American wools), the only things worth mentioning as exhibits of fleece are those from Messrs. Fisher and Pitt, of South Australia, a few picked examples from the famous Ercildoune flock of Sir 8. Wilson, and some parcels of remarkably fine wool sent from the Melbourne Exhibition. I mention the Republic of Uruguay, because their show is excellent of its kind, and is the only one approaching yours in representative

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character, or value in a commercial sense. I tried to induce other Agents-General to join me, so that we might together make a representative exhibit of the wools of all the Australasian Group ; but their Governments did not think it worth while. The objection seemed to be that the Palace Company had only resorted to their scheme as a money speculation and device to attract crowds : but I urged that, whatever might be the Company's object, it must, at any rate, be the object of the wool-growing colonies to extend a knowledge of their great export beyond the precincts of sale-rooms and manufactories, and to popularize a raw material, worth twenty millions a year in such a place as the Crystal Palace, whose other attractions would be sure to draw numbers to the Wool Exhibition as well. I did not succeed in the attempt to interest the Australian Governments in the matter, but it will be a satisfaction to your own Government to know that you have supplied the best means of telling the numbers who surround the machinery at work in the Palace every day what the raw material really is for whose sake all the wonderful inventions they see have been called into existence. In regard to the machinery itself, the Exhibition is certainly a great success. It would be hard to surpass in interest the examples it gives of every kind of labour-saving appliance used in the woollen manufacture. Each process is clearly shown, from the time the wool leaves the bales to the moment when it comes out as finished goods for the market. All the latest improvements in machinery are displayed. The visitor moves from one marvel of design to another, and sees the fleece scoured, dried, combed, carded, teazled, spun, and woven, till it is turned out a piece of stuff; thus uniting in one impression ideas which he would otherwise have had to gather in many separate ways and at many times and places. Naturally, as his interest grows with the sight of so many curious processes, it extends to the raw material they were all invented for, as he turns from a fleece shown as it was packed in a shed on the other side of the world, to the beautiful fabrics into which it will soon be converted by the various machines he has just seen. Thus it will happen that, if the Exhibition is to be any good as a means of popular instruction, your decision to show the raw material will have been no slight help to its usefulness. Nor is the Exhibition wanting in other objects of interest besides machinery A great variety is shown of the innumerable fabrics into which wool enters either wholly or partly ; of the soaps that have been found most valuable ; of the chemicals and dyes used in the manufacture : in a word, of whatever can instruct and amuse the inquirer about the wool-trade and its allied industries. At first it did not seem to me that much notice was going to be taken of the Exhibition by the general public ; but, as people came to know what a number of interesting things there were to see, the visitors increased, and I think the Exhibition would do very well if it had not been heralded by too many nourishes not to cause some disappointment. I need hardly say that I have done my best to show to advantage the wool of the few private exhibitors from New Zealand, as well as the Government's. The gallery appropriated to us is the one to which the public naturally goes first, after seeing the machinery at work, and our cases are placed so as to meet the eye at once. The space occupied by the New Zealand exhibits is so large that I have had to put one of the Corps of Commissionaires in charge of them, as much damage might otherwise have been done on days when great crowds came down to the Palace. lam now having a catalogue prepared of the exhibits, which I will send you in due course, with any further details which may be necessary of what has been done to carry out your commands. As to the cost, the only ultimate expense of any consequence will be the glass cases, because, although the first advance for the purchase of so many bales has, of course, been large, some of the money has already come back by resales, and the rest will come in when I sell the bulk of the wool at the September series. I shall be glad if you would instruct me whether lam to sell the cases, or send them out for the Museum. I had them made rather handsomely, because I found they would be much more saleable afterwards than a common sort; and for permanently showing valuable objects in the Museum at Wellington, they would be well worth sending out. I shall offer the thanks of the Government to all the firms who have co-operated with me in this business. I give their names at foot: but I ought to make special mention of Messrs. H. P Hughes and Sons, who at the busiest time of the current sales let me have the services of Mr. Burgess, one of their principal valuers. It is, indeed, owing to the skill and good taste of this gentleman that your exhibits have been made what they are, and I should be very glad if you would cause an official letter of thanks to be sent to him direct. Mr. F Betz, of Messrs. Dalgety, Dv Croz, and Co., who was a juror at the Melbourne Exhibition, also gave me valuable suggestions ; and Mr. Kennaway, secretary to this department, has been indefatigable in his efforts to make our exhibit a success. I have, &c, F D. Bell, The Hon. the Premier, Wellington. Agent-General.

Messrs. Charles Baline and Co.; Bdenborough and Co.; Henry P Hughes and Sons; Jacornb, Son, and Co. ; Willans, Overbury, and Co.; Buxton, Davidson, and Lees; John Thomas Simes and Co.; Schwartze, Helmuth, and Co. [The two last-named firms did not purchase any wool]

No. 12. The Hon. the Colonial Secretary to the Agent-General. Sir,— Colonial Secretary's Office, Wellington, 9th September, 1881. Referring to your letter No. 541, of the 28th June last, addressed to the Premier, stating what you had done to carry out the instructions respecting the Wool Exhibition at the Crystal Palace, I have the honor to acknowledge, with thanks, your services in this matter. The cases had better be sent out here ; but if possible some arrangement should be made whereby they will not come out empty. I enclose herewith an official letter of thanks to Mr. Burgess, in accordance with your request, and shall feel obliged if you will kindly forward it to that gentleman. I have, &c, The Agent-G-eneral for New Zealand, London. Thomas Dice.

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Enclosure in. No. 12. The Undek-Seceetaey to Mr. Buegess. Sik, — Colonial Secretary's Office, Wellington, 9th September, 1881. The Agent-General for this colony, in reporting the action taken by him to secure the representation of New Zealand at the Crystal Palace Wool Exhibition, states, in referring to the assistance he received from you, "It is, indeed, owing to the skill and good taste of this gentleman that your exhibits have been made what they are." I am directed by the Colonial Secretary to convey to you the thanks of the New Zealand Government for the valuable services you have rendered to the colony in assisting Sir Francis Dillon Bell in obtaining and arranging the New Zealand wool exhibits. I have, &c, G. S. Coopeh, —. Burgess, Esq Under-Secretary

By Authority : Geobge Didsbury, Government Printer, Wellington.—lBBl.

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