Variety In Brief
The Empire Exhibition
Glasgow, 1938.
New Zealand Railways Exhibit.

On page 13 we publish a photograph of the New Zealand Railways portion of the New Zealand Government's Exhibit for the Empire Exhibition at Glasgow.

The Railways exhibit consists of a central section with a moving panorama of New Zealand landscape, as seen from train and railcar, flanked by dioramas of sporting scenes of fishing and skiing. The arrangement of the moving portion was designed to ensure continuous working, all portions being very strongly made. This display has a length of 13 feet, with height 10 feet and depth 4 feet.

To the left and right of the central section are dioramas of the Raurimu Spiral and the Otira-Arthur's Pass Alpine section respectively. These each measure 10 feet long, 6 feet 6 inches, high and 3 feet deep.

Above the central section is a coloured light representation of the Department's “Safety, Comfort, Economy” advertising heading design. On either side of this are two oil paintings, one of the Otira road in the old coaching days and the other of the route with the electrified section of the Arthur's Pass-Otira railway. Above is an illuminated painting of Wellington's New Station, and the whole exhibit is surmounted by a bold glitter-faced caption, “N.Z.R. The Romance of Progress.”

The whole display has a smart, modern appearance, and the colour and lighting effects have been well applied to make a dramatic presentation of panorama and dioramas.

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Mention was made in the daily papers recently of the price paid for the site of the city of Wellington. It included forty-eight iron pots. The only known one of these pots still extant, is one in the possession of Mrs. Warren, a fine old Maori lady of Motueka. It may be asked how she knows this to be the authentic pot, and the explanation is that heirlooms of any great event are treasured by the Maoris equally with the pakeha souvenir hunters, and such heirlooms are regarded as too sacred to lie about. As an example of this the following story of Turi is told: On one occasion, the Rev. Hammond, a Wesleyan Minister and a great Maori student, called on Turi, a Maori chief who was stated to have in his possession a paddle of the Atua, one of the first four canoes to arrive in New Zealand from Hawaiki. The Maori readily showed his relic and Mr. Hammond asked him how he knew it was from the Atua. Without replying, Turi took the paddle and wrapped it again in its many wrappings and replaced it in its former safe position. Then he spoke—sternly. “I did not ask you to come here. You did it to please yourself. Now you doubt the honesty of my ancestors. I will tell you how I know this to be the paddle of the Atua. My father gave this to me and told me it was the paddle of the Atua; his father gave it to him with the same story. I will give it to my son and he will know what I tell him is true. Now you will leave my house where you are no longer welcome and you will not return.” Mr. Hammond left, with no doubts as to the authenticity of the paddle. Though Mrs. Warren's iron pot has passed through very few hands compared with the Atua's paddle, she establishes that it is genuine, by the same method.

—C. McB.