Displays at Royal Show
p. 70 · Read in the full issue
Fiji Shows How
THREE Pacific territories—New Guinea, Papua and Fiji—were represented at the Royal Empire Show in Sydney during April.
The New Guinea and Papua exhibits were unimpressive. They comprised merely a small collection of wood-carv ings, baskets, canoes, pottery, spears, etc., and several photographs: in fact, the only thing in either exhibit which excited any interest at all was the col ourful poster at the back of each stand —a native, with spear aloft, in the case of New Guinea, and a village (presum
ably Hanuabada) in the Papua display.
Sharply contrasting with the New Guinea and Papua exhibits was the Fiji stand. A wide variety of tapa cloths provided the background; and, on a plat form running around the exhibit, sam ples of the Colony’s products were laid out. Copra, bananas, canned pineapple, tobacco, coir, cotton, polished shell, sugar cane, candlenuts and ginger were dis played prominently, and the model can oes, spears and huts were relegated to secondary positions. In the centre of the stand a brightly-lit photograph showed a typical scene in a Fiji village, and a map of the Colony was also displayed; it was obvious that the organisers had laid out the exhibit more as a cross sec tion of Fiji’s commercial value than a display of museum pieces.
In a glass case samples of the Colony’s mineral wealth were featured, and a graph showed the rise in gold produc tion from £2,279 in 1932 to £1,136,546 in 1940—“ developed very largely with Aus tralian capital”.
Another poster emphasised the unfav ourable trade balance between Australia and Fiji. A long line represented the £561,000 worth of Australian goods im ported into the Colony from Australia each year and a much shorter line the £77,200 worth of Fijian goods which Aus tralia buys.
Mr. L. Bailey-Mugg, of Dalgety & Co. (representatives of the Fiji Government in Sydney) was in charge of the stand and he was assisted by Mr. C. Monckton (former Minister of Native Affairs in the Colony). He said the idea of having a Fiji stand at the Show originated sub sequent to discussions between Austra lia and Fiji, and was made possible by the keenness of Dr. H. W. Jack, Director of Agriculture. Two Fijian soldiers were sent' to Australia with the exhibit, and were in attendance at the stand, where plenty of printed information also was available.