Furniture, &c.

The chief representatives of the manufacture of furniture are Mr A. J. White and Messrs W. S. King and Co. In each instance a beautiful and most tasteful display is made, Mr A. J. White confining himself more especially to drawing-room articles, and the Messrs King including a dining-room suite. Nearly all the articles shown are in the early English style, upholstered in satins or in morocco leather. Mr White includes some nice looking articles of what may be termed ebonised wood, the black ground being tastefully relieved with lines of bright gold. In the manufacture under notice a largo number of hands are now employed in Christchurch, nearly all the furniture used being locally produced. For the framework of all the best productions Victorian black wood is used partly on account of the richness of its appearance, but especially because of its strength, which admits of its use in the required curved forms. If it showed any brittle tendency, it would, of course, be altogether unsuitable for such a purpose. The blackwood, however, is, in every respect, a desirable material for this manufacture, surpassing even walnut in beauty, and working extremely well. For the more common descriptions of furniture made in this city, the woods very generally used are the Native kauri, and the Queensland or Sydney cedar. In producing the woodwork very complete machinery is now being used. The timber is split up by steam power, and planing machines, lathes, shapers, &c, are subsequently employed upon it. In the finishing processes of the better class of goods, however, there is a great deal of handwork, more especially in connection with the carving. Visitors to the Great Exhibition of 1851, were enabled to watch the beautiful effects so rapidly obtainable by the use of a carving machine on the drill principle, the revolving tool biting into the wood much or little at the will of the operator, and enabling him to produce complex details that would be unobtainable by hand-work, save at too great a cost for ordinary requirements. Leathers for upholstery are now being made here, but their quality is not as yet at all comparable with the imported supplies. The principal varieties required are roan and morocco, the former being prepared from the skin of the sheep, and the latter from that of the goat. The stuffing materials used, include imported horse-hair, native flax, and Colonial flock. In Wellington and Dunedin flock is manufactured from rags; but none is made in Christchurch. This is an industry which might well be made a local one, large quantities of the material being used. The required webbing, again, could be made a local production, and practical men have expressed the opinion that it could be made from our own flax, of abetter quality and at a lower price page 20 than the imported material. Amongst the minor industries connected with the production of furniture, and which might be undertaken here with every prospect of success, may be mentioned the binding or braiding, the leather covered nails, and the castors. For the wheels of these castors our gansister or flinty clay would serve extremely well, and the brass castings could of course be made in any of the foundries. The springs required in the manufacture of seats are imported duty free, and their local production is not at all likely to be undertaken. A further possible local industry under this section is the manufacture of carpets.

The two exhibits of furniture which have been mentioned, will, by their general excellence, and by the great taste which they display, command the admiration of visitors. The latest style in drawing-room suites, it will be noticed, is to have the various articles made of diminished proportions, as if—in the progress of the "development of species," we were gradually becoming a race of Liliputians. The Exhibition includes various other examples of articles of furniture, some of them remarkable for the extreme beauty of the totara knot, honeysuckle and other native woods used; and also for the thorough excellence of the workmanship. Amongst these items are the chest of drawers, shown by Mr J.Hickman, Lichfield street; and the cheffonier with curved panels entered by another exhibitor. An entry of special interest was the table top made by Mr Kent, Cathedral square. Its inlaying includes 50 different New Zealand woods, and no fewer than 40 of these are from Canterbury grown timber. Some of the desired varieties having been obtained only just before the Exhibition, the article had to be hurriedly finished; but no non-professional critic will be at all likely to detect even a trace of defective workmanship. Mr Kent has done good service by showing a number of smaller articles in the native woods, such as candlesticks, egg cups, trays, &c.; and another exhibitor, Mr W. Graham, of Lyttelton, is working in the same direction. Mr Graham has made a good beginning in another but connected industry, the production of articles in bone, such as paper-knives, netting-needles, &c., all of them neat, well finished, and really useful domestic requisites. One of the finest examples of cabinet work in the Exhibition is the hexagonal show-case made by Messrs W. S. King and Co., and utilised for showing the grain sent in by Messrs George King and Co. The panels forming the sides of the hexagon are most tastefully inlaid with the most effective New Zealand woods, and the finish of the elegant design is a vase, the vertical stripes of which are due to the varying tints of the red and white pine, kauri and rimu, which have been used in its construction. This show-case, which is to be forwarded to Melbourne, was built by Mr T. G. Moule, Avonville.