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The New Zealand Railways Magazine, Volume 13, Issue 2 (May 2, 1938.)

On To 1940

On To 1940.

In all parts of this Dominion to-day, thoughts are turning increasingly towards 1940, the year of New Zealand's Centennial Exhibition.

Celebrations of the kind are becoming increasingly popular the world over, and Exhibitions are gaining a place in public esteem similar to that held by the fairs and circuses of older times. The art of combining entertainment and education has been seen in its highest development in the successful Exhibitions of recent years, and it is expected that the experience gained in the great European and American efforts of this kind will be applied to New Zealand's Centennial display.

Certainly the colourful romance of this Dominion's century of progress from the days of the earliest white settlers, and from the long period of highly developed native culture which preceded it, provides a background of unique interest for the display of steps along the forward march of development in primary and secondary production and in transport and commercial relations for which no other country can provide a counterpart.

The astounding uses to which electricity and other power-producing agencies have been put by the inventive genius, art and technical skill of those engaged in manufacturing and commercial pursuits have helped to change the whole tenor of life and will apparently continue to do so with increasing momentum.

How to keep pace with the latest artifices for ease and enjoyment in this good life is a problem which finds its answer in the modern Exhibition. And as there is no end of news in the world of applied invention, so the latest Exhibition should always be the best.

There was a time when public interest in this kind of display waned because the people came to feel about standardised shows as Kipling's soldier felt about route-marching in India, that

“Every blooming camping-ground's exactly like the last.”

But that phase has gone by, for besides the improvements in showmanship which distinguish the modern Exhibition from those which preceded it, there is an understanding of mechanical matters and an interest in seeing “the works,” particularly amongst the younger generation, which is much more widespread than in the past.

So New Zealand goes on to 1940 with confidence in her capacity to interest the world in the display of her Century's progress and to make that display outstanding among efforts of the kind.