The Sun.
London, England, 1851-09-04 00:00:00

THE GREAT EXHIBITION.

The receipts yesterday amounted to 2,080/. 125.,
the total number of visitors being 41,917. We hear
that 80 artisans have been sent over to this country
from Sardinia to visit the Exhibition, and that their
expenses are defrayed by a subscription liberally
headed by the King. Every arrangement has been
made to enable them to profit by their trip to the
fullest extent.

Among the diurnal experiences of the Exhibition
none are more curious or suggestive than those which
its police arrangements furnish. So excellent have
these been throughout that the vast and valuable
amount of property 'collected has been minutely in-
spected by several millions of persons without the
occurrence of a loss by theft worthy of the name.
Such vigilant superintendence is unprecedented, and
reflects the highest credit upon the efficiency of the
body to whom the safety of the Crystal Palace and its
contents are intrusted. So well is the place pro-
tected that the swell mob have not once dared to
attempt a concerted action in the interior, and where
pocket-picking has been tried it has almost inva-
riably been by clumsy performers from the country
" single-handed." Their operations at once attract
the attention of some sharp-sighted detective,
and while . they fancy themselves in perfect
security they art suddenly laid hold of and marched
away to the station, where the persons they have
plundered soon follow to identify and redeem their
property. In another, point of view the experiences
eetteee-polioe-foaaiheasaequallyeastrious swainteresting.
We published some time ago a lint of -articles -found
in the building up to the end of June, and remaining
unclaimed by their owners. That list threw a
curious light upon the carelessness and forgetfulness
of persons when under the influence of that strong
excitement which a survey of the Exhibition inspires.
It was remarked that the number of articles belonging
to female paraphernalia greatly predominated, some
of these being of a kind which it seemed almost
impossible to drop or leave behind accidentally. In
consequence of the notice which we then drew to the
subject a large number of the things that had accu-
mulated were subsequently claimed from all parts of
the country, and it is with the hope of doing a
similar good service now that we publish the list of
articles found, and in the possession of the police,
from the Ist of July to the 31st of August. It will
be observed that these again show the superior forget-
fulness of the fair sex, and their occasional powers of
leaving behind them pieces of dress which it seems
most strange that they should lose accidentally. The
list is as follows :

"275 shawl brooches and clasps, 319 pocket handker-
cbiefs, 69 shawl pins, 16 pocket and memorandum books,
13 pencil-cases, 67 bracelets, 43 walking-sticks, 48 veils
end fails, 1 flask, 1 opera-glass, 168 parasols, 32 um.
brellas, 31 reticules and other baskets, 23 bunches of
keys, 14 victorines, 49 neck-ties and cuffs, 8 bonnet
shcdes, 18 'ira of spectacles, 4 ladies' season tickets,
1 gentleman's ditto, 38 pairs of gloves, 22 bags of various
colours, 7 shirt studs, 2 pockets, one containing
6L 1. is copper; 4 snuff-boxes, 10 watch keys and seals,
1 cape, 1 overcoat, 3 boys' caps, 3 fans, 10 lockets, va-
rious; 1 petticoat, 1 lady's bustle, 2 cigar cases, 1 lady's
collar, 2 ditto bands, 1 pair of lancets, 2 rings, 2 pair of
goloshes, 1 common metal vratchguard, I metallic pencil,
1 camp stool, 14 shawls and mantles, 5 pocket knives, 4
eye-glasses; cash, 15s. 10/d.; a puree, with 21. 3s. 10d.;
ditto, 65.• ditto, 4s. 6d.; ditto, is. 6d,; ditto, 25.; ditto,
1/. 25.; ditto, 6s. 4id.; ditto, ss. 4d.; ditto, 6s. 3d.; ditto,
125.; ditto, 3d.; ditto, 35.; ditto, Is.; ditto, ls.; ditto,
Sc.; ditto, ea 4id.; ditto, 3s. 6d.; ditto, Is."
Of all the stray property found at the Exhibition
and handed over to the police for the discovery of
ownership, the most remarkable and most perplexing
items come under the head of children. But for the
intervention of the force the Royal Commission must
have by this time been placed in the delicate predi-
cament of assuming the paternity of some eighty or
ninety boys and girls who had lost their parents or
friends in the building. With such heave' family
cares, what would have become of the surplus? Hap-
pily the station-house at Princes-gate provided a
mode of escape, and thither all the stray little ones
have been regularly sent ; one boy was kept there
all night, and a bed having been made for him with
great coats, he was next morning forwarded to his
relations at 'Winchester. Another little fellow was
taken to lodgings in Bromptoa-row, and was claimed
there next day by his friends from Epsom. From
eighteen to twenty children have been forwarded to
various parts of town by the constables going off
duty, and no less than sixty have been claimed at the
station by their parents.
The lock controversy continues a subject of great
interest at the Crystal Palace, and, indeed, is now
become of general importance. We believed before
the Exhibition opened that we had the best locks in
the world, and among us Bramah and Chubb were
reckoned quite as impregnable as Gibraltar—more
so, indeed, for the key of the Mediterranean was
taken by us, but none among us could penetrate into
the locks and shoot the bolts of these makers. In
this faith we had quietly established ourselves for
years, and it seems cruel at this time of day, when
men have been taught to look at their bunches of
keys and at their drawers and safes with something
like confidence, to scatter that feeling to the winds.
The mechanical spirit, however, is never at rest, and
if it is lulled into a false state of listlessness in one
branch of industry, and in one part of the world,
elsewhere it springs up suddenly to admonish and
reproach us with our supineness. Our descendants
on the other side of the water are every now and
then administering to the mother country a whole-
some filial lesson upon this very text, and recently
they have been " rubbing us up" with a severity
which perhaps we merited for sneering at their short-
comings in the Exhibition. While we have been
relying implicitly upon the artful arrangement of
" tumblers" and such like devices, they have been
carefully developing their ingenuity in picking and
opening locks. A man makes a lock, and he brings
it to a mechanics' institute in New York, with a cer-
tain sum of money secured by it, which sum becomes
the property of the successful operator who can shoot
back the bolt of the new contrivance. Instantly
astute heads and clever expert hands are engeged in
solving the mechanic riddle thus propounded to them,
and so far these dexterous manipulators have carried
their art, that their " open sesame" sweeps springs,
tumblers, false notches, letter devices,
farand every-
thing else before it, Mr. Hobbs is
accomplished and mocessful of by the most
these performers,

this country at a very op-
our makers a very useful
however Mr. Chubb may
ant, that Mr. Hobbs has
fair means, in opening his
locks as they 'axe hitherto been made. 'No formal
and deliberate trial has taken place between them
to establish the fc.ct, but it nevertheless remains
undoubted, and the sooner Mr. Chubb improves his
patent, so as to set Mr. Hobbs at defiance, the better
for his own interests. Bramah and Company have
acted with more pluck, and have been beaten in a
fair open field. They have acted with so much bold,
open courage, that even when Mr. Hobbs's success
was ascertained by us we were reluctant to state the
facts positively arid circumstantially, until the award
of the arbitrators appointed on the subject had been
made. That document we now publish, and the public
we are sure, when they read it, will not think the less
of a firm which has been vanquished in a fair stand-
up fight maintained for so long a pdriod, and against
such extraordinary skill :
" REPORT OF THE ARBITRATORS TO WHOM THE BRAMAN

LOCK CONTROVERSY WAS REFERRED.
" Whereas ior many years past a padlock has been
exhibited in the window of the Messrs. Bramah's shop
in Piccadilly, to which was appended a label with these
words, ' The artist who can make an instrument that
will pick or open this lock will receive 200 guineas the
e Rennie, F.R.S. L den and
,ingshould be the arbitrators
moment it is produced;' and Mr. Hobbs, of America,
having obtained permission
from omc the
eg College,
eLs sorns.doßnr,, a mans hd
to make S trial of his skill in ning the
said lock, Messrs. Bramah and Mr. Hob severally.
Dr.
agreed ef ee
Black,
Professor
thatoa erk ,C
Cowper,
Kene
toourfegkKy
between the said parties; that the trial should be con-
ducted according to the rules laid down by the arbitra-
tors, and the award of 200 guineas decided by them on
undertaking that they should see fair play between the
parties. On the 23d of July it was agreed that the lock
should be enclosed in a block of wood and screw'e'd to a
door, and the screws sealed, the keyhole and hasp only
accessibleeythooMrle Hobbs; and
beoperatinging
raneddwiwthheanband
woafs
iron
and sealed by Mr. Hobbs; that no other person should
have access to the keyhole. The key was also sealed
up, and not to be used till Mr. Hobbs had finished his
operations. If Mr. Hobbs succeeded in picking or open-
ing the lock the key was to be tried, and if it locked and
unlocked the padlock it should be considered a proof
that Mr. Hobbs had not injured the, lock, but picked and
opened it, and was entitled to the 200 guineas. On the
same day, July 23, Messrs. Bramah gave notice to Mr.
Hobbs that the lock was ready for his operations. On
July 24 Mr. Hobbs commenced his operations, and on
August 23 Mr. Hobbs exhibited the lock open to Dr.
Black and Professor Cowper. Mr. Rennie being out
of town Dr. Black and Professor Cowper then cad
in Mr. Edward Bramah and Mr. Bazalgette, and
showed them the lock open. They then with-
drew, and Mr. Hobbs locked and unlocked the
Black and Professor
padlock in the presence of Dr.
August
23 Mr. Hobbs's
Cowper. Between July 24 and
operations were for a time suspended, so that the num-
ber of days occupied by him were 16, and the number
of hours spent by him in the room with the lock was 51.
On Friday, August 29, Mr. Hobbs again locked and
unlocked the padlock in the presence of Mr. George
Rennie, Professor Cowper, Dr. Black, Mr. Edward
Bramah, Mr. Bazalgette, and Mr. Abrahart. On Sa-
turday, August 30, the key was tried, and the padlock
was locked and unlocked with the key by Professor
Cowper, Mr. Ronnie' and Mr. Gilbertson, thus proving
that Mr. Hobbs had fairly opened the lock without in-
juring it. Mr. Hobbs then formally produced the in-
struments with which he had opened the lock.
." We are, therefore, unanimously of opinion that
Messrs'. Bramah have given Mr. Hobbs a fair opportunity
of trying his skill, ana that Mr. Hobbs has fairly picked
or opened the lock, and we award that Messrs. Bramah
and Co. do now pay to Mr. Hobbs the 200 guineas.
" GEORGE RENNIE, Chairman.
" EDWARD COWPER.
" G. R. BLACK.
" Holland-street, Blackfriars, Sept. 2, 1851."
This document is conclusive on the merits of the
questica, and we trust that Messrs. Bramah will pay
down their money without hesitation. It is true that
according to the terms of the challenge a single
instrument is mentioned, whereas Mr. Hobbs ap-
pears to have used three or four at least; but the
main point, the picking or opening of the lock, has
been accomplished, and the aw.'s- of arbiters,
mutually chosen, with a decided Treponderance in
favour of Messrs. Bramah, cannot be decently de-
parted from. The public, however, while they ad-
mire the expertness with which this mechanical feat
has been performed, will not attach more importance
to it than it deserves, or undervalue the merit of our
best locks, because an American operator, highly ac-
complished in such matters, has succeeded, after an
arduous struggle, in opening them. The facilities
given to him were such as no thief could ever pas-
sess, even if he had the necessary ability; and it is
quite clear that the operation has not been one of or-
dinary picking. This rough lesson Will probably
lead Messrs. Bramah and Chubb to devise some means
for rendering their patents more secure, and we have
no doubt they will succeed in that object. Mr. Hobbs,
we understand, is not himself a lockmaker, and the
American invention in which he is interested is open
to the attacks of cur mechanics, and may be picked
some of these days in its turn. Awattempt will, it is
-Leisifect this; iend esittakilYt-wbegit
reineinlierenhat-Ciiar cousins show several kicks all of
which are represented as perfectly secure, it is high
time for our lockmakers either to show that the
A merican patents are equally unsafe as their own, or
to acknowledge themselves beaten, and endeavour to
make better locks for the future.

According to Bennett's thermometer, the mean
temperature in the building yesterday was 09.4.
Morning Paper.

CLEOPATRA'S NEEDLE.

Lieutenant-Colonel Lloyd, Special Commissioner
at the Exhibition, has suggested an easy means and
an inexpensive one of bringing over Cleopatra's needle,
which seems worthy of adoption.
The Government would, no doubt, be pleased, for
there is no immediate outlay of ready money; and it
is to be hoped a 10• gun brig might be spared without
any great detriment to the service.
It appears by his statement that Cleopatra's needle
is lying in with the flank of a work close to an old
Roman tower at about the centre of the new port of
Alexandria.

There are 8 feet of water close to the shore, and 2
fathoms and more within a cable's length.
He proposes that a temporary pier with 17 beams
be laid down, supported by short piles, if the wharf
does not already give the means of support.
That cables or about 106 feet in length, 17 in
number, be laid securely along the beams and pro-
tected.

That a brig of 250 tons, old measurement, with a
" flat floor," be obtained, her deck beams and masts
taken out temporarily ; the former to fit in again secure
and bolted, the masts to "foot;' on to the Needle
when stowed, and then lashed.

After the brig is so prepared and brought alongside,
the needle to be lowered by " parbuckling" it down
over the beam endz, the cables thus forming a tempo-
rary cradle, and so to be brought over.
The gear for lowering the same, and the whole
operation would be so simple and so iaexpessive as to
need no illustrations. The brig should be filled in
between decks with empty casks, and sailed or towed
over.

Attached is a memorandum of detttlfis of scantling
of timber and girth of cables necessary to support the
weight. A few anchorsi snatch and other blocks, and
running gear and tackle falls, would be required.
riATA. FOP. REMOVING CLEOPATRA'S NEEDLE.
Assumed length 72 feet.
Weight •• ... 250 tons.
To be ‘.jairbuckledi :from a temp. rary
•
titer pier
over the hold of a brig.
S. constant for tran. strain=l,loo •
Tons. Beams required.

A common fir beam, 12 by 12,
with a 6 feet bearing, will
support at the end ... „. 4 about 02
Do. do. 12 by 12, 3 feet bearing 8 " 31
Do. d 0.12 by 16, 4 feet do. ... loi " 25
Do. do. 12 by 16, 3 feet do. ... 14 say 18
Two do. 12 by 12, bolted and
trenailed, laid with marine
glue or gutta prolia, making
a beam 12 by 24, and 5 feet
bearing, wilt support ... 19 and 15
From these data a selection might be made accord-
io g tocircumstauces, and cables of the proper girth
selected.
Proposed to have 16 beams one foot square, 30 feet
or 35 feet in length, with additional pieces 12 by 12,
and 10 feet in length, trenailed, &c., and supported
5 feet from one end, the smaller ends well „ecivied
down.
over 'the ends, and
The needle to be " parbuelded "
eholaandanma
and down
planking
l a
nkguidein g
Cfiblatl:kLasz
afterwards,
intoro thela
housed.
kbeams
RthP&RBUCXLING.

Tons. No.
A 12. inch cable will securely bear
... 13 18
A 13-inch ditto 15 17
Three cables of 100 fathoms each would give 17
lengths of 106 feet, amply sufficient to " parbuckle
the needle by lowering into the brig.
One over each of the beams would be sufficient,
hut, if thought necessary, two might be placed on two
or three of the beaus at the heavier end.
Running gear, tackle, and falls, snatch-blocks, and
capstan bars, would be required ; a powerful wino,
h
and some screvjacks, &c.

I,AItTRIOOR.—A. weekly market has been estab-
lished on Saturdays at Prince Tovr, and from the large
number of persons ergaged at the prisons a ready sale is ob-
tained for the various commodities. Should the prisons fi
o
on as at present for tha reception of convicts, this place w
ill
become a great market for the sale of every commodity.
Several helms are being erected, and Dartmoor will un-
doubtedly become an attractive scene. Two convicts escaped
Bakesday, from Dartmoor prison; one named Samuel
, the other Gnfilths, both aged 19, and dressed in
prison clothes, marked D. P. The convict who ran e
off last
week gave himself up a day
self in a barn, it is said, near 'or towrrooarfitderg.e, sec
hewr eat
was
dnehaimrl
y.
etaryedo— Western Luminary.