General Remarks.

Another "daughter nation," whose aim, judging by her Courts, is Resolute, Intelligent Progress. In no Court in the Exhibition are the exhibits so well balanced, in none do they so readily give a full and accurate impression of the character and resources of the Colony exhibiting.

The Climate in the North approaches that of Italy; in the South it is very similar to London, and it is particularly suitable for colonists bom and bred in the United Kingdom.

On entering the Court find the Relief Model of New Zealand.

Ten minutes would be well spent over the model, noticing the geological colourings, the beautiful harbours on the coast, the nearness of every portion of the islands to the sea. The foliated schists contain the gold mines, and the cretaceo-tertiary is the formation for the coal deposits.

Specially notice the volcanic region in the North Island, which has lately so terribly suffered from the eruption of Mount Tarawera.

page 44

Wool the most important production.—The long-woolled sheep of Britain benefit by the change owing to the genial climate. The wool exhibits are most carefully and thoughtfully arranged. Experts cannot fail to profit largely. The value of the wool exported is treble the value of the gold. A truly "golden fleece."

Wheat, &c., &c.—Owing to the range of climate every variety of cereal and root crop may be raised. See exhibits of Wheat—Barley—Flour—Semolina—Potatoes.

Garden Produce, &c., so also many fruits grown in hot houses at home, ripen in the open air in New Zealand.

New Zealand Flax is the fibre of the Phormium Tenax, and has an old-established reputation. Value in 1884, £24,500.

Farm Produce.—Dairy factories have been established, and the manufacture of cheese is important. See Food Exhibits near the Fernery.

Frozen Meat.—The Refrigerating process is exhibited in the South Promenade. The Colonies until recently exported only wool and skins, and boiled down the flesh for the sake of the tallow.

Timber, Kauri Gum.—See Timber Trophy; specially note section of Kauri Pine.

The Fernery, the finest in the Exhibition. Notice the beautiful Todea superba.

The Kauri grows in the north half of the North Island. The tallest trees are nearly as high as the Monument in London. Its turpentine forms the Kauri gum, which is also dug out from the sites of old forests. Logs which have been buried for many years have been found sound enough to be used as railway sleepers.

Minerals.—Hardly a district in the Colony without Brown Coal. Gold mining is still in its infancy. Silver, Copper, Iron, and other metals will be found to be abundant. See the excellent collection of Minerals; also the Metallic Sand shown in one of the cases of the Mints Department. Specimens of Bituminous Coal in the Fernery.

No iron mines are at present worked; the black sands which occur plentifully on the coasts furnish the iron.

Brown Coal is coal of more recent formation than the coal we bum. In Otago the seams are from five to twenty feet thick. Nearly the whole of this coal can be obtained without sinking. Bituminous coal, also abundant, in seams from 18 to 40 feet thick.

Animals.—The exhibits of New Zealand birds and fishes are page 45 especially interesting. Notiec the Skeletons of the Moa (Diornis Maximus) (D. Elephantopus); also the only Moa egg ever found, valued at £1,000. The collection of New Zealand fishes is scarcely less interesting. See the Tuatara group, and the living Tuataros in the Conservatory.

The seas about New Zealand abound in fish. Those exhibited and marked with a red star are food fishes.

The Tuatara is the largest New Zealand reptile, it lives mainly on insects; its jaws and teeth arc immensely powerful, and it can inflict a severe bite; it lives in burrows, in company with native petrels. On the mound in the group is a young mutton bird. Notice the case with the "vegetable sheep" a composite plant which grows only on the shingles of the High Alps of New Zealand.

Manufactures.—Notice how the colony is rendering itself independent of the outside world. With abundance of good timber, the colonists have become ship-builders, and have built 83 steam ships. There are 23 manufacturers of agricultural implements. At the Exhibitions in Sydney and Melbourne, New Zealand took the chief prizes for brass and copper goods.

Boys will be interested in the machine for teaching swimming.

Maps, Pictures, Photographs.—The beautiful Physical Map of New Zealand deserves special attention. The maps, in combination with the pictures and photographs, enable the visitor to form a most accurate idea of New Zealand and its scenery. See Miss Gordon Cummings views of the hot spring district, destroyed by the late volcanic eruptions.

Do not pass over Lindauer's paintings of Maori Natives, at the South entrance to the Courts, near the Maori Storehouse.

The Natives are termed Maories; they say, "as the white man's rat has extirpated our rat, so the European fly is driving our fly away; as foreign clover is killing our ferns, so the Maori will disappear before the white man."