Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957), Tuesday 22 April 1862, page 7


THE GREAT INTERNATIONAL EXHI-

BITION OF 1862.

(FROM THE HOME NEWS, FEB. 26.)

This magnificent building is now rapidly ad-vancing towards completion, and the work of allotting spaces, and portioning out divisions, has ' already begun. The strength of the galleries has been tested, as in the Exhibition of 1851, by a

body of 400 men, who marched in quick and

double time over thom, and then leaped, and otherwise tried their durability. On tho 12th February, the contractors gave up possession of the edifice to Her Majesty, according to the terms of the contract. But tho works uro by no means complete. On the same day that tho transfer was made, the glazing began ; and con-siderable work remains yet to bo done upon the domes. Tbat was a busy day, the 12th of Fobruaiy. Her Majesty's Commissioners having ob-tained posscBsion, occupied themselves in sotting guards upon the different entrances, and other-wise providing for the future protection of the edifice and its contents. On the same day no less than seven foreign commissioners arrived ia

London.

Let us now glance'at the interior, as it is at

this moment.

While the commissioners havo boen busy at the office in the West Strand, sending out diagrams to tho exhibitors, showing tho size, shape, and position of their several allotments of space, the Sappers and Miners at tho building, under care-ful direction, are engaged with paint-pots and brushes marking these figures on the floors. As fast as tho planks already laid down-not yot covering one-half of the building-are swept clear of brickdust, mortar, and shavings, these

irregular designs are drawn on them in red out- ' lines ; and when the work is finished, we only hope that the different pieces will fit into each othor with the harmony of a Chinese puzzle. When Borne of the exhibitors get out of the irri-tating atmosphere of letters and official formB, and are able to grasp something substantial for their trouble, Mr. Sandford may probably bo relieved from his body guard. The business transacted at West Strand has been terribly huddled up in cor-ners for want of room. Stupid inquirers produoe fussy officials, and some of the money-making de-partments have been withering for want of air und space. Mr. Cundall, the superintendent of Ho Illustrated Catalogue, was boxed up in a pen in sizo and appearance very much like a com-partment at tho baths and washhouses. Here he had to find room for hundreds of woodcuts,

thousands of letters, an assistant, and two ' writing-tables, and to soo his customers on busi-ness. If his catalogue should produce a thou-sand pounds ICBS towards tho surplus than the ccmmissioners oxpect, it will not be difficult to account for tho deficiency. These objections have boen obviated by the removal of tho whole staff to the Exhibition Building ; although there are people who think, not without reason, that the transfer of the catalogues and the finance to Euch a distant spot will bo extremely inconve-nient, and some of the officials have threatened to rcBign.

The country gentleman interest has remon-strated against the policy of making three guinea tickets the only means of ontranco to the Exhi-bition during its oontinuanco of five months and n-half. It has been suggested that monthly tickets at £1, subject to exchiFion on the special

c ays, would bo a great boon to peoplo in tim j rovinces, and would also Increase the profits of

the Exhibition. An elabóralo calculation hat been worked out, showing that each three guinea ticket, if fuliy used by its holder, will admit on

occasions when the separate put merits for admis-sion would amount to nearly £21, and this may explain why season tickets aro so popular with the publio.

The improved approaches question remain« very much in the same state as it was from th < beginning. Several parishes havo vigorously de-clined to pay for the proposed now roads out of the rates, and tho owners of tho South Kensing-ton property still keep their pockets buttono.l. Tbo only fact to record on the other side is, th i-. the Chelsea vestry, acting on the Metropolitan Board of Works, haB elearcd tho way for widen-ing ¡tho narrow gorge from Eaton-rquaro to Bloane-cquare. This is not much : in fact, it U veryüittle ; but it seemB nt present to bo all weare likely to get. We bave no doubt tbat the general public, when the time arrives, will find their way to and from tbo Exhibition without much diffi-culty, and will not object to walk across tbo parku, .while thoBe who havo lost the UEO of their feat are Btuck faßt in carnages.

Those visitors who ree the Exhibition buildia_

for the first time standing solidly before them, free from all the enohantment of chromc-htho

(tanby, or the fancy touches of tbe artist, will, dcubtiesi, be much disappointed. The outside ia Ecitherbcautiful nor impressive, and the less merit tbat is claimed for it on theso heads the better, iiom many points of view it looks like a Wolverton engine factory, and the square, ordinary, mean glazing adds to this appearance. The great denies aro of tho earth earthy, light in materia', Lit heavy in design. Throughout the building ti e harmony of proportion is sadly wanting, and this no after outlay can give, unless the building is largely reconstructed The Exhibition charter ) io vu! CB that £60,000 shall bo spent in the nrchiudural completion of the central portion of the luildingout of contingent profitB, but this will 1 ardly remove the depressing flatness of the open <r glass courts, nor make them less like a large lailway station. The olerestory windows of the i ave have a look of patchwork meanness, arising from tho ordinary square glazing before alluded to, and the spaces under the galleries, especially lhcfo which divide the nave from the open or ) lass courts, will be much darker than many of

le managers admit. The decorations are being laid on very rapidly-too rnpidly, perhaps, for the interests of art-but no time is to be lost, and thty can easily bo improved at the close of the

Exhibition.

The shafts generally are painted a bronze green, with edgings of but down their angles, and bands of bright red at their roots, their heads, and their junctions with the galleries.

The ornamental ironwork along the front of the galleries is also painted a bronze green ; and it is to be backed with red cloth. The roof of the

nave is painted grey ; the girders are painted alternately red and blue, relieved on tbe edges with a broad buff line. Each girder or spanner along the nave has the name of a country painted on it. The columns or shafts are painted

the same bronze green, and their capitals are alternately painted blue and red, with gilded mouldings, which give them the appearance of special constables' staves.

It is rather early yet to report about the re-freshment department, when the refreshment- rooms are not half built, and even the cellars where the beer is to be stowed away are in the same condition. The pnces at present fixed for refreshments prove nothing, so much depending

upon the quantity and quality of the eatables. The eightpenny "snack,' the eighteenpenny lunch, the half-crown dinner, and the five shilling feast—all without drink—may be very good or very bad, according to the competitive spirit of the French and English contractors.

The statistics put forward in the interest of these contractors only lead us to hope that every visitor requiring refreshment will be pro-lvided with a plate, a knife and fork, a tumbler, and the use of a saltcellar. The refreshment (reas sot apart by the commissioners cover

beut 116 equino fttt, consisting of I ho upper | < iningroomB, ti t spaces on the talleiy floor and i j per mezzanine, on tho lower mezzanine, and the 1 icundfloor,andintbotwoanncxes. Phoaggregate i pace IB about equally divided between the two lontractors, who aro bound by many stringent luleBand pronsionB to give satisfaction to their londlords-the commissioners One rule compels thim to provide fresh filtered water and iced v ater aa long as tho commissioners consider is iccCBEary, for every person who aeks for it, froo if charge.

The tree which wis preserved with such diffi-culty in the cou ro of the south side of the English court has been cut down It was found impossible to keep it, an it stood in the midst of tbe Epuco allotted to Sheffield, and the constant vatenng it would havo required in Bummer would have rusted tbo steel goods around it most injuriously.

The first arrival of goods m the building was ficm Liberia-a Lower Thames street looking caigo of oil casks, greisy packing cases, and icugh cut timber St Helena haB come m a close iciond with some very similar packages, and these aro piled up in the centro of tho open or UDFS courts near an [oflke like a horse box libelled "Her Mi j sty's Customs" Mostof tbo e? visional managcis are now planted m this part cf the building in separate horse boxes, some of 11cm waiting until tho northern and co'omal

courts are finished.

The Empress of the Seas, which was burnt off Port Philip, we now learn by later advices, had no Exhibition goods on board, but the Orient, which has been damaged by fire, has on board eighty-five packages of South Australian goods, including wine, flour, barley, native woods, jams, upper and other ores, malachite, slates, oil paintings, photographs, and shells. Other vessels

are also on their way from the same settlement vith mixed cargoes cf native produce for tho Exhibition, such as soap, wool, ind dried plants.

The colonies will be amply represented Tho 1 rovmco of Nelson, New Zealand, has shipped a v aluable collection of coal spécimens, cloth, wool, t old, timber, hops, photographic views, and uamj les of furniture mado from nativo woods, tho v cry names of which would make the fortune of idvertising upholsterers. Red Manuka chairs, 'J otara couches, and Ti tree tables, to say nothing < f many othei productions, ought really to create

¡ now sensation.

Tasmania is determined to bo well represented in the forthcoming dispKy, and ehe has, there-fore, lot only shipped some fine specimens of : nthracite coal and iron onrs, with topazes, ] ohshed marblcB furs, skins, fino fleeces of wool, i nd models of native fruit, but Bho ia about to < rect a trophy m tho building, a column nearly 100 feet high, made of native woods, crowned with the flag of the colony, and surrounded at the base with ornamental woods, worked into models of whaleboats and whaling apparatus. This column will have a winding staircase inside, and will doubtless be a leading feature of the Exhibi-

tion.

The young Austnlinn colony of Queensland lae shipped a hir^e collection of cotton, maize, v heat, coal, ccpf cr, wine, w ood, tallow, oil, and 1 oney, modeln of ships, stuffed animals, birds, rnd preserved insects, blocks of marble, nativa woods and pbo oKraphs, with dresses mado from Lative wool and cotton, tinda number of aboriginal cinaments and implements.

A fane art display comeB from New South Wales oil pamtiULjS, water-colour diawings, pho ti graphs, woiks in the- precious metals, pottery, ipecimenBof fanoy book binding, music printing, and cabinet and leather work. Tbo textile fabrics will include nativo cloths and lace, and tho minerals, coal, coppor-ore, non, gold, and fossils. 'Jhero will also bo a quantity of agricultural pro duce, native woods and wines, samples of su(,ar, wool, tallow, hides, and preseived beef, soap, candles, and blacking The intention is evidently to chow what the colony can do m all its indus trinl departments.

The " Now Zealand Court" will be of great in-terest. A catalogue of the ti tides has boon published, and shows, amongst other items ol native growth or manufacture, buckets mado by machinery, candles and soap, dried fruits, flax, n ats, rope mado from New Zealand flax, furniture of excellent workmanship, furniture woods, of various kinds and great beauty. There are also weighty specimens of Coro rxandol gold, coil from Drury and from "W aikato, coffeo and cotton from the South Sea Islands, with which Auckland has etta bhshed a regí lar trade, copper ores from various localities m tho colony, sulphur from White Maud, marblo from Wangono, wool. Bluffed birds of New Zeuland, kiunofcum, besides various other urticlis illustrative of the natur ii history and products of New Zealand Tho art cf the painter, too, baa been enh6tod in tho servico, the Now Zcilird flora has been gratefully illustrated in a w«tt>r colour drawing bv Mm Fox, Mr. Hoaphy will add to his est abluí c1 reputation as »n artist by his pictures of thi \\ bite Island Vole mo and the boiling ,spriu"s ot le Tnrali in ti o Uko distuct, mid, as a man of meneo, by bis geological map of Auckland , Mr A. Martin contributes an admirablo view of a (.ortion of thoMunukua Harbour, and Mr Cro u lie furniBhosphotographs of "tho hoads of tbo I copie," the representative mon of Ner Zealand, i s they nppoart 1 in tho electivo chamber of tin General Assembly in tho Parhamtuta of lbul)

II d 1SG1.

The Exhibition of this j car Bcems to excite a n oro lively interest upon the Continent than did Us predecessor of 1851. liy u return of tbo sums lo bo expended by the Rcvoral German Stittiou the great World s Tur, ssr seo that lVurtcmber< i ontnbutCB ¿3,000, mut Saxony about tho samo lum. Tbo niimbtr of exhibitois from the two ccuntneB, 001) .> rong, ia small, however, lu coinj anson with Austna, rho eui boast of as many rt 2,000, ni d is, as wt hear, (,oing to vote i. £0,000 for the cxiensts of a fitting reprotcutation. It is raid ti at tho Trench v.ill ex I etd nearly ¿6100,000 sterling on the decoiation at d fitting up of the r i ourt. Prubeia J IL,s behind in companion with her southern neighbour, nul 1 romiset a coutnixir t uf about J.15,000. Batarii ceiitributcs about ¿7 000. Somo t!ei,rnc i-pecin enn of porcelain manufacturo will bo sent I re m

Berlin.

Tbo building has been insured for £400 001 Tho piemium, paid n to the Norwich Ui io i (which divides the ri'k with other ollie s), amounted to £1300 Tho ngcLt, who biougiic tho buBincBs to tho oflict, nets ton per ce at,

£3d0.

UNGRATEFUL GUESTS. - On the evening of Monday, the 31st ult, four of those bipeds y'clept travellers, arrived with their swags at Mrs. Grassie's sheep-station of Bogalara, on the Glenelg, where they were kindly entertained, and suffered to remain part of the following day to rest themselves; but in return for so much hospitality, they took the opportuuity to rob the poor shepherd on the home station of almost all he possessed, and, not satisfied with that, they also stole the wedges and other property belong-ing to some bushmen engaged on piecework on the run; and the poor men have been idle in consequence ever since. In future no unknown swagman will be admitted to remain at Bogalara. -Portland Chronicle, April 17.