Govt departments to exhibit

Speaking in regard to the Government's participation in the Exhibition, Mr Collins stated that more than 15 of the largest departments would be making displays and that the whole exhibit would be of a magnitude that had never been previously attempted in New Zealand. The total space will be no less than 51,150 square feet. The Department of Agriculture will display the primary products of the dominion, and will provide at the rear of the Government Court an experimental plot devoted to the propagation of various plants and grasses of special interest to farmers. The Tourist Department will display the scenic and sporting attractions of New Zealand. Visitors will be able to obtain information concerning tours in various parts of the dominion.

The Post and Telegraph Department will provide a complete post office and a reception room for the Governor-General and Ministers of the Crown. The decorations will be made from New Zealand timber, and the furnishings provided by New Zealand industry. The Railway Department will include an exhibit of the latest type of locomotive and of the old Josephine, one of the earliest engines used in New Zealand, and show signalling apparatus, track tools, ordinary and motor velocipedes, automatic signalling devices, tablet instruments, level crossing warning signals and a display of photographs. 

The Department of Health will demonstrate by diagram and model the vital statistics of New Zealand, and its activities in the field of preventive medicine generally, ante-natal clinics, St Helen's hospitals, the Plunket Society, the School of Hygiene Division, and the Dental Hygiene Division. It hopes to emphasise the importance of sanitary environment.

The Mines Department proposes to make a comprehensive exhibit of the mineral wealth of New Zealand.

The display of the Forestry Department will fall into four general divisions — indigenous forests, afforestation, timber testing and the utilisation of the timber resources of New Zealand. The Department of External Affairs proposes to make a very interesting display of arts, crafts and products from the Pacific Islands. 

The Department of Industries and Commerce will show, by means of diagrams and relief maps, the growth of commerce and industry in New Zealand. The Department of Internal Affairs will exhibit a very fine collection of war memorials erected on the battlefields of Europe in commemoration of the gallant New Zealand soldiers, also a display of Maori arts and crafts.

The Marine Department expects to display models of lighthouses on the New Zealand coast. The Labour Department will illustrate welfare work, the up-to-date provisions now in operation for the conservation of the health and comfort of workers in shops. The methods of construction and the safety devices employed in connection with the erection of scaffolding will be illustrated.

The Lands and Survey Department will provide relief maps and models showing various irrigation schemes and the processes employed in the preparation of primitive and swamp lands for settlement purposes. The Public Works Department will display the construction of bridges, railways, roads and buildings.

The Government statistician will demonstrate to the public the methods employed in the compilation of statistics. The Defence Department’s display will be of a comprehensive nature, and will illustrate the latest developments in the matter of artillery and other armaments.

The Education Department will be housed in another portion of the exhibition.

Once-linked water bodies

Reports that small crabs, fish and shellfish have been found in water from artesian wells in the lower Sahara Desert are interesting to scientists. Some of these species of fish, apparently living far underground, are exactly the same as those still found in the waters of the Congo, the Niger, the Senegal, the Nile and the Jordan, and in Lake Tchad and Lake Tanganyika. Some of these are forms common to the whole of Northern Africa and Palestine. What does this mean? Simply that Syria and Palestine, as well as the greater part of Northern Africa, were at a period not geologically remote, parts of a single great drainage system. — ODT, 28.3.1925