The Sun.
London, England, 1865-09-14 00:00:00

penditure of nearly two millions on works of sani-
tary improvement and public utility. A similar
scheme when, tried in the sister kingdom occasioned
much disappointment, but having the advantage
of the experience gained in the previous
experiment, the mistakes and errors for-
merly committed have in this case been
happily avoided. The local authorities who were
empowered to obtain the loan have been the parties
responsible for the proper regulation of the works ;
and consequently, being on the spot, and being
personally concerned that full value should be
obtained for the money, they had taken good care
that the works should be judiciously managed. The
factory operatives whom it was intended to employ
have been mixed with a smaller number of skilled
operatives, in the proportion of two operatives to
one workman. The idle factory hands were not
forced to work if unable or disinclined, but the fact
of the guardians being able to offer regular and
profitable employment to all applicants for relief
has been a powerful check on pauperism. The
favourable conclusions arrived at are founded on
the reports of Mr. RAWLINSON, the chief engineer,
so that it is not mere rumour that declares the
Public Works Act to have been a success, but the
actual experience of the parties concerned.

It is especially fortunate that Lancashire should
thus have " set its house in order," when there is
reason to apprehend the approach of a formidable
epidemic. The advent of the cholera among
the densely-populated, unpaved, ill-drained towns
and suburbs of the chief manufacturing dis-
tricts would have been a very serious and
alarming thing some year or two ago. Now,
however, though much remains to be done great
progress has been made. Two millions of money
cannot be judiciously laid out in public works
without effecting much lasting good and removing
many evils. Now that the cotton trade is reviving
so rapidly, the old works will draw in capital and
labour once more, but we hope that the good works
begun will be carried out, and that whatever re-
mains to be done will be fully accomplished before
the subject of sanitary improvement is allowed to
sink out of notice. Meanwhile our other manufac-
turing centres might well take the hint. Must they
wait for a collapse of their trade or the advance
of an epidemic before they look into matters so
nearly concerning the public health and welfare ?
It is not a case where ignorance can be pleaded for.
in the present state of sanitary knowledge ; every
one knows the importance of drainage, ventilation,
and good pure water. Let these things be looked
to in time lest men should say, with justice, that
we rank money higher than human life in our zeal
for trade and commerce.

Industrial Exhibitions are now the order of the
day, and the interest they excite is not surprising
when we consider their importance and significance.
Indeed, the value of such affairs cannot well be too
much overrated, and all the encouragement they
can possibly receive is only the due meed to those
whose skill and exertions contribute to their exist-
The Reading industrial Exhibition was
opened yesterday with great success, and a very
interesting ceremony took place. The inaugural

ence.

address was delivered by the Bishop of OXFORD,
and it was certainly worthy of the occasion. He
dwelt upon the great advantages which accrued to
the community in general from these Exhibi-
tions. They tend to develope thought and to

increase knowledge, more especially among those
classes who have the greatest difficulties to contend
with in the way of self-improvement. As the
Bishop stated with great accuracy, if the " observ-
ing faculty" is educated in our towns immense

benefits will follow, and when we come to reflect

upon it the full force of its meaning is made known.
In an intellectual view it is of the highest import-
ance that the faculties of the mind should be
developed, and that its powers should be generally
developed and not concentrated upon one particular
thing. When a man's energies are monopolised by
one employment, and bounded by a narrow sphere
of action, he may perform his part in that direction
with great ability, but his powers cannot be pro-
perly developed nor his efforts attain to the right
standard of excellence. The result of such a course
is thus properly put in the comprehensive discourse
before us. " You dwarf his general powers by
concentrating their action on one minute art ; the
body is the tabernacle of the mind, and that which
you have done for the man's body, by so limiting
his exertions you do for the mind, too." There is
no rational reason which can be adduced to show
why a man who is gifted by his CREATOR with many
gifts should not be able to exercise them in more
ways than one ; for it cannot possibly be
right or reasonable that they should lie dor-
mant until opportunities are wasted and powers
lost through want of cultivation.. It was with justice
that in this speech at the inauguration of the Exhi-
bition so much stress was laid upon the advantages
afforded by such undertakings, and the opportuni-

ties they presented to those who stood in need of
variety for their thoughts and change of ideas in their
monotonous employment. Anything that tends to
enlarge the sphere of observation must be a benefit,
and as it is certain that some relaxation is needed
by those who devote their time and thoughts con-
tinually to mechanical engagements, it must be the
wisest and best course to present some pursuits
which combine utility with recreation, and render
what is a benefit a source of interest and attraction.
It is too much the fashion among a certain class to
render all that concerns the working classes as dry
and dull as possible. What with lectures they cannot
understand, and books that are intolerably tedious,

it is not to be wonderd at that wise courses indicated
to them should prove to be neither ways of plea-
santness nor paths of peace.
A better mode has been followed of late in many
instances with respect to the very difficult task of fur-
nishing what the French truly call a delassement for
those whose lives of toil demand a rest, and whose
continuous efforts deserve sympathy and encourage-
ment. With minds not trained to comprehend
easily these matters unconnected with their imme-
diate vocations, and with bodily powers maimed
with exertion, it is absolutely necessary that in
thebe a
endeavour pleas ing as well a the recreations presented to them there should
inu
eh tht r
aofidt a btlhee.
Otherwise
will beas failure,3 n
object frustrated by misconception of its chief
requirements, and ignorance of its vital principle.
The Bishop of OxFono
also adverted to another
benefit that these Exhibitions conferred upon us,
and that was their tendency to put down an excess
of " artificial distinctions" of rank and place, and
attaching undue importance to mere external mat-
ters, which are, after all, not accidents. These insti-
tutions can also serve the noble purpose of develop-
ing talents which also might languish in obscurity,
and pine for want of an appropriate sphere. In
this inaugural address we meet with an eloquent
passage concerning the " greatest gifts " which
are given to human beings. The marvellous faculty
which parts one man from another is " the imperish-
able gift of genius, the kindling of the fire which
comes from the fire which is eternal—a gift greater
than any of the external circumstances which belong
not indeed to us, but are, as it were, the accidents—
the play-clothes of the actors on the stage of life,
while each plays his little part in the fight of man."