The Express.
London, England, 1862-01-14 00:00:00

LONDON, TUESDAY EVENING, JANUARY 14, 1882.

INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION OF IPA%

The works at Kensington now so nearly approach
completion that there is scarcely any doubt of tr
being ready for the reception of goods on the 12th,
not the Ist of February, as stated by • weekly
contemporary. The 12th was the day fixed from
the first, and by that time it is expected that every-
thing will be ready. The foreign exhibitors will,
we trust, begin to move betimes, and discard all
the foolish apprehensions which we understand pre-
amongst them respecting the formal opening
in May next. May is still a good way off, and in
the meantime there will be ample opportunity for
taking the pleasure of an illustrious personage on
a subject to which at present it would .he
isdafi-
eate to allude. Our continental friends must re-
I member that all that has yet been stated on autho-
rity was that no announcement as to the opening,
bad been made. There is time enough, end they,
es well as ourselves, will be justified ill hoping
weeepthing from her Majesty's well-known anxiety
tp promote every undertaking calculated to sub-
%serve the welfare of her people.
The works are now so far ndvanced throughout
their whole extent that it is not easy to mark the
exact progress that has been made in a single
week. Ouo fret, however, will be agreeable news
to the less agile lovers of the fine arts--namein
that the great picture gallery is sew approacheelail
a staircase, instead of a ladder, as heretofore,
therefore any one who is favoured with a ticket tan
now judge for himself of its wonderful fitness foe
exhibiting works of art to the best advantage. It
struck us yesterday that the planking of the floor
was rather thin, considering Use enormous concourse
el people it will have to support. We ware assured
of its sufficient strength, but as this is a matter in
which too much precaution cannot be taken, we
trust we shall be excneed for recording our impres-
sions respecting it. Passing under one of its sue-
curtsies our attention was attracted by a series of
unfinished erections, or " lean-toe," that were being.
encrusted on the outer wall. At first blush they
looked like a row of rabbit-hutches, but a nearer
inspection at once decided their unfitness for the
abode of so delicate an animal. They were small
enclosures of about twelve feet square each, and as
inquiry we ascertained that they were intended for.
the accommodation of the official staff. Certainly
if the whole official staff is to be located there, the
Commissioners must contemplate a oousiderable
reduction, not only in the numbers, but in the
individual bulk of their employes. Until
these very restricted quarters are ready the
clerks are to be butted" in one of
the courts, after the menuer of Alderahott or
Shorncliffe, but it is a question, whether with the
same amount of comfort. The sale of tickets has
not yet commenced, but will positively be opened
this week • and from the number of inquiries that
have already been made, there is no doubt of there
being an early and brisk demand.
The domes get on with miraculous rapidity, and
the western one has nearly outstripped its eastern
predecessor. An improved method of editing up
the ribs, adopted by Mr. Ashton, has greatly faCi-
litated and expedited this most tedious and difficult
portion of the work. An examination o: the
domes leads by a natural sequence to the light
question, which we fear is one which will give some
trouble to the commissioners. We have already
adverted to the scant illumination of the nave, and
we apprehend, now, that the transepts will be still
Teem off. A great deal, it is true, is expected
hem the domes, but the light from them will strike
down vertically, whilst the transepts, which stretch
out right and left, will be but imperfectly bone-
fitted. It is no puns asinorunt, however, this
lighting problem, it merely requires to be taken in
time, before the exhibitor have bad an opportu-
nity of judging as to whether their goods will
or will not be placed iu the best possible
light for display. They never make mis-
takes in these matters, and would be much
propitiated by an increase of light for the nave and
transepts. It may be as well to inform them that
their goods will be received at the Cromwell-road
entrance, and at the top of the western annexe.
In the interior the flooring of the nave is delayed
until it has been determined whether there shall not
be a tramway along the centre, by means of which
the gallery goods can be run along and hoisted up
into their proper places. The questions of heating,
colouring, tke., are still under consideration, but
there is no apprehension that they will cause any
serious delay.
A difficulty, not of the building itself, but inti-
mately conflected with the building, still looms
largely in the immediate future. It is a difficulty
somewhat analogous to that which betel the Vicar
of Wakefield's family picture, for, now that the
great work is nearly fiuisbed, there is great
doubt as to whether it will be accessible to one-
half the eager public who will crowd to inspect it.
The terrible " blocks" of '5l in Piccadilly are re-
membered with a lively apprehension, but we trust
that the fears in this case will tura out to have
been exaggerated. The obstacle, we believe, to
granting a road across Hyde Park is, that if once
opened it never could be closed again, and that
thus the sylvan character of the Park as a " chase"
would be destroyed. We see no reason why an
undertaking given now, that the road should be
closed along with the Exhibition, should not be as
binding as that of 1851, which so inexorably doomed
the beautiful creation of Paxton's genius to destruc-
tion. Some additional means of approach will be
absolutely necessary, and now, and not much later,
is the time to decide the question.
The allotment of space is at last an accomplished
fact, and it is found that the industrial exhibitors
will muster an army of somewhere about 10,000 ;
2,000 have mote/lied, but the scheme of allotments
will be 44.4 adhered to, a rule which must be
observed all the more stringently in consequence of
the recent good news from America, as our Trans-
atlantic relatives, who were lately so near being
marshalled against us in mortal strife, will now be
quite as anxious to enter the lista with us in the
peaceful competition of art and ingenuity. They
will want all their space, and theretoro ell Lopes of
more elbowroom on the part of the 2,000 discon-
tented, in consequence of a wholesale American
" :ecessiou," are now fortunately at an end. The
" opposition" building which has been alluded to in
some newspaper paragraphs turns out to be a
legitimate commercial speculation, intended to
effuse a harbour of refuge for such exhibitors es
shall not have been able heweether Exhibition-point.
It is, we understand, undertaken by a company
at the hued of which is Sir R. W. Carden, and the
Royal Commissioners have been consulted as to
whether it would be looked upon as in any way a
hostile demonstration. The answer was of course
in the negative, and the supplementary building is
being proceeded with. The only other fact of inte-
rest connected with the Exhibition which tran-
spired during the week was the intimation given to
Mr. Mike that his long services in the cause of the
social and educational advancement of the people
were to be rewarded with a baronetcy. The pro-
priety of the act was suggested in this journal to-
wards the close of the Exhibition of 1851, and it
therefore gives us peculiar pleasure to learn now
that the thing has at length been done, and only
awaits the execution of some formal preliminaries
for public announcement.

THZ SHAIMIPEARIC FUND.—The following sub-
earietteet have bees lately added to this food :—William
Leaf, Esq., 1001. ; Frescos CountessWslitsgrave, 201.
LsohliWi4Miawoliv &Swishy, 6!. ; Sir James Prior, 51. ; 8.;
Esq. 11. P., 101. ;W. Seholsfield, 3LP.,
M. ; 8. R. 80114 Esq., 101. ; TIMMS
Esq., 101. ;0. . Narsaa, Faq., 61. ;C. IL ISt,EN.r
61.; Mews. biliill/111; ; T. R sad W. R., W.
H. Reece, Esq., F.S.S.. 5/. ; Jobs Noble ; ;
flosses Kandaks, Het., 51. ; William Rid
51. ;W. L. Birgsat, Esq., 51. ; Charlet Iltaw,W3l. •
see requested to Ails IW the seems% of the teal in kept
as thellfelhuni )week of the Beak of Eafilsad, R
y arliagtos-
prasas, whin sabsoriptiosis I. aid of as objects will be
Mutton wasiverl.