The Express.
London, England, 1861-12-31 00:00:00

INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION OF 1862.

Two thousand six hundred artisans, of various
trades, have been working at the building at South
Kensington during three days of the past week
with redoubled energy, in order to make up for the
other three days which they had devoted to the
Christmas pastimes. It was quite an army of
labour, but we understand that it is to be further
and considerably reinforced, in order that faith ,
may be kept, and the building be ready for the ' '
reception of g.ods on the 12th February next.
Great as this number of hands is, they fill very
little space in the vast interior, and, but for the 1
shouting, the hammering, and the occasional
fall of come fragment from above, one
might walk all round without imagining that i
any very extraordinary amouut of work
was being carried on. Yesterday, being
"Saint Monday," the muster-roll was not quite
complete, but we were informed that the absent I .
were very few indeed as compared with the former I
" Mondays" of English workmen. Looked at from
either Exhibition or Cromwell road, the building is
beginning to have a great appearance of finish and
completeness, The two long facades are perfect
from end to end, except one corner tower, and are
perfect specimens of brickwork ; but, it is genera/,
thought that if they were faced with stucco, to
imitate stone, the effect would be very much im- ,
proved. Both the domes are now sufficiently ad-
vanced
in outline to produce the intended efiect, ,
and no doubt, when finished and seen glittering
in the summer sun, will present a very striking and •
imposing appearance. In the eastern one, six of the
twelve ribs of which the concave is to be fornsed are
already in their places; and the remainder lie about
all ready to be hoisted. Thanks to the splendid ,
scaffolding, and the powerful machinery, this
apparently Titanic work is comparatively very ,
easily performed, but the fitting the ribs in their ,
places, and rivetting the joints, are tasks of some ,
difficulty, which will not be wondered at when we
remember that the measurement of each entire rib ,
is about 100 feet from the capital, of the support-
ing column, to the centre piece. Once the ribs have
been placed and secured, the remainder of the
work will be got through with ease and rapidity, as
nothing will remain to be done except to fit in the
cross " purlins' " and commence glazing immedi-
ately. After the dome has been completed,
however, a task of considerable difficulty,
danger, and labour will still remain—namely,
the removal of the vast iuternal wooden
structure, round and over which the dome
has had to be raised. It is to be observed that the
glass dome of the Exhibition building has no inner
cone, like that of its more substantial rival—St.
reel's. The wooden structure before mentioned at
present takes the place of the cone ; but, when the
dome is finished, the wood will be removed altoge-
ther, and the superstructure will have to depend for
support solely on its own strength and lightness.
It is expected that after the dome is finished it will
take at lout three weeks to remove the inside scaf-
folding. The eastern dome will, it is expected, be
finished by the 12th of February, and its western
rival about • fortnight later. It was hardly to be '
expected that so much perilous work should be got
through Without some accidents; and, accordingly,
there have been, we regret to say, five or six deaths,
and • good many broken limbs, but we believe that
in no ease has any accident occurred through failure
in the ropes or machinery, or weakness in the scaf-
folding, but it has always been the result of 'some
momentary inadvertence on the part of the men
themselves. A good proportion of the accidents
have, it is said, hitherto happened on Mondays, when
the men would perhaps have been indulging a little
Measly in stimulants. Every passible precaution
is taken to prevent accidents, end every human
means to alleviate their consequences when they do
occur, twenty beds being always reserved in St.
George's Hospital for the reception of bruised or
wounded patients from the Exhibition building.
The nave may be said to be now complete, being
roofed over, floored throughout, and having all its
columns Minding in their first coat of paint. An
experiment was tried yesterday in colouring, a por-
tion of the roof being painted of a very dead blue.
The result was not satisfactory, and it is thought
that the best way will be to leave the oak panel-
ing to its natural colour, merely giving it a coat of •
bright varnish. We were very much struck with J
the spacious' airy, and cheerful appearance of the
Western court, now completely roofed and floored,
and ready for our French friends, who in it will
have the beat exhibition space in the whole build-
ing.
When this splendid court shall have been
decorated as the French exhibitors propose to deco-
rate it, and is filled with their various and beauti:ul
manufactures, it will certainly be not the least at- .
tractive portion of the Exhibition. The nme, in
which the English will probably muster strongest, ,
is as yet rather dark and cloistral, but it is
expected that when the domes are finished
and their scaffolding is cleared away the light will
be abundant. The picture gallery, to which the
visitor must as yet ascend by a ladder, is never-
thrifts quite ready to receive its pictures ; and here
the light is, as was expected, perfect. The length
is 1,200 feet, the same as the Louvre,
. sod, in
addition, there are two minor galleries, each
800 feeClong. Should all this length of hanging
space be filled with meritorious pictures, as no
doubt it will, there will be at Kensington a finer
exhibition of pictures, not only than any existing ,
collection, but than any collection that ham ever
been brought together, not excepting the Louvre
when ennched by the First Napoleon with the
spoils of all Europe. One of the annexes is finished
except the flooring, and the other is nearly half
covered in, whilst the refreshment buildings have
made rapid progress during the week.
A rather singular traffic in that now precious
commodity, exhibition space, has been discovered,
and put a stop to by Mr. Linden, one of the secre-
taries.
It appears that • number of persons had
applied for space who bad no intention to exhibit,
but bad secured their space betimes, as a certain
clam of Parisians du the front seats in the theatres,
liu the expectation of selling them to advantage
just as the curtaiu is about to rise. The course of
the Commissioners is to put down all such traffic,
and promptly to cancel any space privilege which
is thus sought to be transferred. The only other '
point respecting the material progress of the under-
taking which requires any notice this week is the
uncertainty in which the Commissioners am still
left respecting their chance of • road across the I
park. If this road should not be obtained, all
the goods from the west of England will have to come
through Park-lane, to the great inconvenience of
its aristocratic inhabitants, and the frequent block-
ing up of its fashionable thoroughfare. It is
earnestly hoped that some action will speedily be
taken by the authorities for the promotion of ' cir-
culation," as otherwise the success et the Exhibi-
tion will be seriously interfered with by the insuffi- 1
ciency of the means of access.
With reference to • paragraph which has ap-
peared
in one of the weekly papers, to the effect
that an illustrious personage had intimated her
intention of opening the Exhibition in person, it I
will be felt, on a moment's reflection, that such an
announcement could not have been otherwise than
premature, as nobody would believe that the Com- .
nossumers would have been in such haste to in-
trude on the retirement of • sacred sorrow as
already to have ascertained the Royal intentions
with respect to the ceremonial opening. All that
can yet be hoped is that the gracious intentions
which were permitted to be announced in Colonel
Phipps' letter to Mr. Dilke, already published in
the Daily News, with respect to one favourite pro-
ject of the late lamented Prince Consort, will in
due time be extended to another, and the greatest, ;
of his late Royal Highness's undertakings.

(Stamped, Id. Additional.)