The Express.
London, England, 1862-01-29 00:00:00

VIII INTERNATIONAL WCHIBITION.

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The aristocratic inhabitants of the far west who
Lail with joy the anuommeinent that a road—
, according to the suggestion of the
Nees—is conceded through Kensim,qou
Park to the great Exhibition, must not look for a
sealteation of their expectations to the fact that the
project is one which has originated with the Royal
e.oluniieriouers, the latter having nothing whatever
to do with it—it is entirely a speculation of the
Ikcietty of Arta, who have already thrown their de-
bentures into the market. The commissioners
have been asked " How many they mean to take,"
but the answer, we understand, has been, "None
at all, we have no power to divert the funds which
have been entrusted to us from their legitimate
sled original purpose." Tbere is no doubt but
that this road, if carried out, will be of
inimeeee convenience to the "carriage people
et Tyburnia and its surroundings, as all
*odors of that clam will have five-guinea
✓isen ticket'', admitting them through the gardens
et the Horticultural Society ; but to the muses it
well be of little or no advantage, as they will pour
ion) the Exhibition from an entirely different direc-
ting. So far, however, as it goes, it will be an ad-
ditional avenue, and will therefore somewhat re-
heve the pressure in other quarters.
The sale of tickets progreses satisfactorily, the
greater demand being for the five-guinea ones, to
which many peculiar advantages are attached. As
they are to be strictly personal, and non-trauster-
able, many ingenious suggestions have been for-
warded to the oommiseiouers, by means of which,
they are told, they may detect any attempt at im-
position. The following is in our opinion so
strikingly original, that we make room for it in our
article :—" To the Comniimiouers of the Inter-
seamed Exhibition of 1862. Gentlemen,—ln
Beading your advertisement for the sale of
season tickets, it occurred to me that, to
avoid any transfer of the same, a carte de
salts of the purchaser should be appended thereto.
As they are now so universally used it would be
little trouble to the purchaser, and a greet pro-
tection to yourselves. Thin may appear rather a
singular suggestion, but I think it worthy of your
ereseideri6on." As the commissioners expect to
sell some 100,000 season tickets, it may be ima-
gined what a collection of counterpart present-
ments of " the human face divine" would, if this
liginious expedient were adopted, be daily sub-
mitted to the critical inspection of the officials at
the turntables..
The mention of season tickets, which will =tu-
midly be absorbed by the well-to-do, in town and
eoimtry, brings us round to the price of admission
for the masses, the minimum of which is to be
erne shilling for each person. Now, in arranging
this question the Commissioners were bound
to remember that the whole success of
their undertaking depended on the suffi-
sissy of the guarantee fund, and that the
guarantors all pat down their names under the
asyression that they were providing both a great
treat and a great school for the working clams of
the country. This was the view taken by Mr.
William Hawes at a recent meeting of the Society
et Art,,, when that gentleman pointedly remarked
that the habit of working men—and a glorious
behit it is—was to take their families with them to
sights of this kind, and that a fee of a shilling
apiece for all round, grown up people and children,
would act as a bar of exclusion in too man=
I%eeharge was much lower at the French
bon, and the numbers of working people who
visited it were enormous. It did not appear that
Mr. Hawes's pertinent observations made any
inpressi'm on his audience, or brother mem-
bees of the council—the latter being, perhaps,
pro-occupied with their scheme of a carriage road
through Kensington-gardens, nor does the adver-
tisement of the Commissioners indicate that any
beneficial impression has been produced at had-
rteni. The Exhibition is to be open somewhere
about 112 days in all, of which the first three are
appropriated exclusively to the crime de la creme, the
eetandesioners also reserving the power of naming
mere exclusive and special days shuttle' they think
fit Besides these, two days in each week are to be
higli priced days, and if Saturday should be one of
them, the working man's hardly won half holiday
mill be of no use in enabling him to see the Fab-
Mita. Perhaps it may not be yet too late to re-
matider the tariff, and see whether a few sixpenny
dip might not be given, or she some reduction in
Hauer of the younger members of a family.
The works at Kensington are going on with
adraurdinary rapidity, particularly in the interior,
where the adoption of Mr. Creoe's designs for de-
aeration has at last set a long vexed question at
pas. Mr. Craoe's work will no doubt look very
cart, bait some captious critics still doubt whether
it will be the sort of framework best calculated
to set off the goods which it will surround. It is a
great matter, however, to have it settled, and us
ens an doubt either Mr. Crane's competency or
bete. The emulation between the dome eon-
etructors rages with manifest advantage to the pro-
grass of the work. Mr. Hussey, the controller al
the eastern concave, denies that he had six weeks',
air more than three, start of his competitor, whilst
be adds that the latter is fully three weeks behind.
WS wangled to perceive that both were getting ea
baiously, and our only hope is that it may
ad in a dead heat, to be decided as soon after the
Mil February as possible. The public will be no
more admitted to the works after this week, partly
bemuse the decorators must out be obstructed, and
partly because the receipt of goods will commence
almost immediately. The last act of returns oom-
(yesterday) was for the photographic class,
which upwards of 400 spaces have been allotted.
This interesting class, which is to have a room to
itself, is expected to be one of the greatest &time-
lines of the Exhibition.