Final Report of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition CommissionLouisiana Purchase Exposition Commission
History
Final Report of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition Commission
Louisiana Purchase Exposition Commission
Louisiana Purchase Exposition (1904 : Saint Louis, Mo.)
When the New Zealand government received the invitation of the Louisiana
Purchase Exposition executive to be represented at the World's Fair the
colonial parliament gave the utmost publicity to the proposal and
offered to allow any of its business firms a share of the space that was
to be placed at its disposal. The tariffs of the United States, however,
proved a serious obstacle, as the chief business houses of the young
nation failed to see how their interests would be served by advertising
in a country which placed a heavy tariff on their goods. However, the
executive of the government, recognizing the cordiality of the
invitation and with a desire to emphasize its wishes for the closest
relationship with the American people, decided to be represented
directly by one of its own departments--the department of tourist and
health resorts. The chief of that branch of the public service, Mr. T.
E. Donne, was therefore authorized to prepare an exhibit setting forth
the attractions of New Zealand to tourists and the work the department
is doing in that connection. When compiling the exhibit Commissioner
Donne represented to his government that it would be advisable also to
include a few of the country's general products, and it therefore
extended the original idea in this direction.
In the Department of Forestry, Fish, and Game New Zealand had a unique
and tastefully arranged display that attracted keenest interest. A
collection of Scotch red deer and fallow deer heads testified to the
magnificent hunting that is obtained among the virgin forests of New
Zealand, and specimens of trout--rainbow, salmon, fario, and
fontinalis--taken from the mountain-fed streams that intersect the
country from one end to the other appealed to the fishing enthusiast.
Pictures and paintings around the walls were fascinating in that they
served to indicate to visitors the character of a country which nature
has blessed, when judged from a point of view of the beautiful and
picturesque. Mount Cook, majestically rising to a height of nearly
13,000 feet, was shown in paintings and photographs. Lakes Taupo, Te
Anau, Wakatipu, Manawapouri, Waikaremona, and others, whose clear,
glassy waters, surrounded by verdure-covered hills, gave some idea of
the loveliness of New Zealand lakes. The Wanganui River, Milford Sound,
one of the world's wonderful fiords, and the canyons known as the Otira
and Buller gorges were some of the features that interested the
visitors.
The thermal districts were chiefly represented by the great Waimangu
geyser and its crater, 21/2 acres in extent, which throws up boiling
water, mud, and stones to a height of 1,500 feet, claiming a place as
one of the "wonders of the world."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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