The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1883-05-26 00:00:00

THE AMSTERDAM EXHIBITION.

The Times has published an interesting 'account by
its correspor.dent at Amsterdam of the Exhibition at
Amsterdam, recently opened by the King and Queen
of the NetherlAnds.—We make the following extracts
from The Times article :

The entrance to the exhibition is through the Ryks
Museum, in which has been collected together by Dr.
Serrurier, of tio3 Ethnologic%l Museum at Leyden,
nearly all the specimens of Javanese art and manu-
factures which have been hitherto scattered thoughout
the Netherlands. The principal attraction is, how-
ever, the Indian collection which the Prince of Wales,
with his usual generosity, has forwarded as his c .n-
-tritnition to the exhibition, an instance of liberality
which enab'es the Adminietration to make an extra
charße of 25 cents. for admission to this portion of the
museum.

Once inside the exhibition grounds the visitor crosses
an open space and finds himself in front of the principal
building. To the left is the separate structure devote.l
to the products of the various colonies of the Nether-
lands in the East and West Indies and on the S.)uth
American coast ; while to the right is a cluster of
separate edifices of more or less pretensions to beauty
of design—most of which are restaurants, but some of
which contain objects of special interest, such as the
house erected by the City of Amsterdam and the
establishment for diamond cutting.
The contents of the Colonial Building will well
repay the trouble of a visit. Passing by the monu-
ment erected to commemorate the Dutch victories in
Atjeh, and the colossal statue of Jan Peterson Koen,
the founder of the City of Batavia, and just glancing
at the portraits of the various governors who have
controlled the destiny of Netherlands India for the
last 200 years, I found myself in a spacious building
filled with all that could be brought together from the
Dutch colonies in the Eastern Archipelago. There
were pictures representing the rich tropical scenery of
those beautiful islands, the dank, luxuriant vegeta-
tion, the blue tepid waters which wash the coasts, and
the languid populations which inhabit them
There are wax-models of Malays in all sorts of ex-
traordinary costumes, and with their hair and nails
tortured and twisted into shapes which are scarcely
human. One lady has a head-dress something
like the standard of bells which is carried before
some regimental bands, while another has allowed
her nails to grow to a length so that in order
to protect them from accident they have been tipped
with steels, like those which were affixed to the heels
of game-fowls when cock-fighting was still a British
sport. There are specimens of all the raw products,
animal, vegetable mineral, to be found in the Dutch
colonies, models of houses and villages, photographs
and paintings, showing the domestic life of the
Javanese, native wespons and native furniture, maps
and plane of the towns and of the rural districts,
elaborate trophies made of the skins of tigers and
leopards, the model of a tobacco plantation with life-
size figures of men and women engaged in the various
works connected with the cultivation and preparation
of the fragrant weed, and pictures of the various
industrial and charitable institutions founded by the
Dutch for the benefit of the European and half-caste
population. . • .
Once inside the main building the visitor finds himself
in the Dutch court, which occupies 68,000 square feet
of space. The decorations are in good, although in
severe taste, brown and gold being the predominating
colours, and there being, of course, a liberal display of
flags and banners. There are, of course, huge tro-
Phies, built up of beer, liqueur, and gin bottles,
candles, cheeses, and exemplars of the other great
industries of Holland. But there are other exhidts
which show that the Dutch can, in many other manu-
' factures hold their own with their neighbours in other
parts of Europe. There are toilettes for ceremony and
for the promenade which would not discredit Worth
himself; bronzes, carved furniture and inlaid tables,
porcelain from Delft and Maestricht, velvet from
Utrecht, and some remarkably good specimens of print-
ing and photography. A suit of silver armour, richly
gilt and embossed, made at Utrecht for a young
Dutch nobleman who desired to exhibit himself with
becoming splendour at a fancy-dress ball, betrays the
fact that the love of le luxe has penetrated into Hol-
land • while in a case close by a clay pipe, curiously
carved and adorned with white ribands, is an evidence
that the custom still exists among the peasants of the
Netherlands that the bride upon the ss edding•day
should show her obedience by presenting her husband
with a pipe which, with her own hands, she had
previously filled with tobacco. The copies in Delft
ware of Vandyke's Charles I. and his family are finely
executed ; and the large photographs of the great pic-
tures of Holland—Paul Potter's "Bull" Rembrsndt's
"Lesson in Anatomy," and Vandernelst's "Banquet
of the Civic Guard," give at a single glance a good
idea of the great pictures of the Dutch school.
The Belgian court is scarcely far enough advanced
to enable one to judge of the appearance it will present
when completed, but tnough work has been done here,
as well as in those of France and Germany, to show
that these three courts, just as they will occupy the
largest space will present the most attractive features
in the Exhibition.

New South Wftles, with 6,000 square feet of space,
comes next to Btlgium. The display of raw produce,
is very good. There is a fine collection of wool,
though in this elms the larger colony is not so well
represented as its smaller neighbour, Victoria. But
the mineral resources of the oldest of the Australian
colonies show to great advantage. There are trophies
of coal, tin, copper, and shale, all of which minerals
are produced and exported, and there is a very
good collection of timber and of building stone.
A number of specimens of natural history, photo.
graphs of scenery and of the aborigines, samples
of leather, tobacco, sugar, and preserved meats
show the varied nature of the products of New
South Wales. The display of grain is not large, pro-
bably owing to the fact that the colony, although a
larg.-+ exporter of maize, does not grow enough wheat
for its own consumption. The advanced state of the
useful arts is shown by the well printed and tastefully
bound books from the Government printing office, and
the very satisfactory condition of primary education
has enabled the Minister of Education to forward
some interesting books, photographs, and statistics.

Behind the New South Wales court is the space
occupied by some British Crown colonies. which are
under the charge of Mr. J. B. Kyshe, Registrar-
General at Mauritius. Jamaica shows her old staples,
rum, sugar, coffee, and pimento, in addition to a
number of new products to which the attention of the
colonists has been directed of latq years, such as cacao,
nutmegs, and cinchona bark Mauritius has a solitary
exhibition of sugar, and there is a small collection of
sugar and coffee from Natal. Close by the section of
the British sugar colonies are some very interesting
minerals and ores, the produce of mines in Utah,
Idaho, and Montana.
Victoria comes next to New South Wales in the
main avenue, just as she is its neighbour upon the Aus-
tralian continent. The place of honour is given to
gold, and an enormous obelisk tells in four languages
—Dutch, English. French, and German—that it repre-
sents the exact bulk of the £207,288,400 of the precious
metal which had been found in Victoria up to the
end of last year. Gilt blocks which look at a dis-
tance like inverted basins represent the result of
some of the more sensational crushings of mines
in the Bendigo district, and there are well-executed
models of all the large " nuggets" which have
been discovered, including the famous "Welcome
Stranger," which yielded 2,303 ounces of smelted gold.
There is an excellent display of the fine merino wools
for which Victoria is so justly celebrated, and a large
collection of grain, the wheat being of specially excel-
lent quality. The scientific portion of the court
includes a complete series of mineralogical and geo-
logical specimens stuffed and prepared animals, birds,
fish, reptiles, and insect., woods, seeds, and birds'
eggs, life size wax figures of aborigines and native
weapons and implements. There is a fine display of
leather, pharmaceutical preparations from the euca-
lyptus, sauces, preserved meats, jams, preserved
fruits, and biscuits, models of yachts, and an attrac-
tive collection of native timbers very tastefully
worked up. Some large maps of the colony., a quan-
tity of grain in sheaves, and a trophy of wine which
looks clear and bright, and tastes remarkably well,
complete the court, the contents of which were got
together in Victoria by Mr. G. C. Levey, 0.M.G., who
represents the colony at Amsterdam as Executive
Commissioner.

British India and China are in loving juxtaposition.
The Celestial Empire makes a gold display of the ex-
traordinary and bizarre productions of that wonderful
country. There are dragons of the most truculent
aspect, cabinets and vases of the most brilliant colours,
banners and screens, enough to fairly bewilder persons
who have a taste for the monstrosities in which Chinese
artists and artificers appear to delight. The Chinese
court also contains a quantity of enamelled cloisonn6
and lacquerei work, which is either of Japanese manu-
facture, or else has been made in China in imitation
of the products of its neighbour.

British India ba3 a large and very well filled court,
which has been fitted up in excellent taste by Mr. J.
K Royle, Executive Commissioner for the Govern- •
ment of India. The portion abutting on the nave,
which is decorated in Indian red and buff, is filled
with samples of Indian produce and manufacture,
while the space behind has been converted by the Cal-
cutta Syndicate into a room in which cups of tea will
be given away by a staff of Hindoo servants, with the
hope that the people of Holland and North Germany
may become customers for Indian in place of Chinese tea.
One side of the court proper represents the bazaar of
some town in the North-West Provinces, and there
are lay figures in Indian costume selling grain, cloth,
and fish, good samples of Benares brass work, which is
both cheap and effective ; and a complete collection of
raw pro tuce. Altogether the court of British India
is very interesting, and although nothing like so com-
plete as that of Java and the neighbouling Dutch colonies, it affords a very good idea of the large and unde-
veloped resources of a country which, although its
civilization is older than that of Europe, is in most
respects only in its national infancy.
Great Britain only °couples 36,000 square. feet, as
compared with the 70,000 f t. of Germany, the
00,000f1. of Belgium, and the 115,000 ft. of France,
and of this comparatively small space, a large por-
tion is taken up by a number of American reaping
and binding machines. Many of the British ex-
hibits are very good, and I was particularly pleased
with the models of steamships now plying in almost
every trade of the world which are exhibited by
Denny, the great shipbuilding firm of the Clyde.
There were models of ocean steamers built for the
P. and 0. and the South African Company; here a ship
which sails under the flag of Spain, and trades from
Cadiz to Havanah ; here another which crosses the
tempestuous seas which divide Australia from New
Zealand, and a third, looking like an American river
steamer, with tiers of decks upon decks, which steams
upon the placid waters of the Irawaddy. The Doulton
ware is largely shown, and there are good specimens
of weighing machines iron safes, machine belting,
iron work and tools, stable fittings, perfumery,
indiarubber manufactures, candles, and chocolate.

Last week's receipts of cotton at all United States
ports were 44,000 bales ; since the 14 September,_
5,735,000 bales. Week's exports to Great Britain
35,000 bales; week's exports to the Continent, 81,000
bales. Total since let September, 4,263,000 bales.
Stook at all ports, 560,000 bales.

THE HOME OF THE CROWN PRINCESS
OF GERMANY IN ITALY.

Dating from Santa Margherita Ligure, Riviera di
Levante, a correspondent writes to the Daily News:—
This lovely spot, where the Crown Princess of Ger-
many and suite are staying, is distant only seventeen
miles from Genoa on the Eastern Riviera, but it is
comparatively little known. The primitive simplicity
and quaint character of the spot are maintainid
intact, from its isolated position. The place is
separated from the Corniche high road by lofty olive-
clad hills, which shelter it from the Mistral. There is
a good carriage road to Rapallo, about two miles
distant, which there joins the Corniche, and the small
railway station is not far from the town.
Santa Margherita has a southerly aspect, looking
seawards, where extensive views are obtained; on the
left of the village of Znagli, where the best Genoa
velvet is made; the town of Chiavari, famous for its
manufacture of chairs and hand•made towels, with
macramti edgings; the town of Sestri Levante, and at
the extreme point may he seen the island of Palmaria,
a convict settlement off Spezia.

On the right, the road winds along the sea, past the
monastery of Cervara, where Francis I. was im-
prisoned after the battle of Pavia, and the little
village of Paraggi, with a picturesque chateau belong-
ing to an English banker at Genoa, situated on a rooky
promontory. After a walk .of three miles the road
ends in the quaint fishing village of Porto Fino, nest-
ling under the point of the same name.

The climate is beautiful, the air soft and balm y
the simple inhabitants are genuinely kind and cour
teous to all strangers. The walks are varied and of
exquisite beauty, whether you stroll seawards or direct
your steps to the gardens of the Marchese Spinola,
or wander among the olive groves or chestnut and nine
woods, where the song of the nightingale may now be
heard, and wild flowers of great and varied beauty are
to be found. More distant excursions can be made,
for instance, to Monte Telegrass, the naval semaphore
of Genoa, as well as by boat or on foot to Ssn Frut-
fuuoso, the ancient burying-place of the Doria family,
fit resting-place for such a famous race.
One of the great industries of Santa Margherita is
lace, which is made on pillows by almost every
woman in the place, in black, white, and cream silk,
and in fine linen thread. It is cheap and strong and
well made.