New-York tribune., 1878-05-01
BRITISH ACTIVITY.

PRIORITY IN COMPLETENESS CLAIMED FOR IT-SUC-
CESS LARGELY DUE TO THE PRINCE OF WALES
BRITISH AND COLONIAL IROPHIEs-THE VILLAS,
AND HOW THEY ARE ADORNED.
(FRoM STAFF CORRESPONDENT OF THE TRIBUNE.l
PARIS April 17-In marked contrast to the French
backwardness is the orderly Tapidity with which
the English have got on. The British section,
which the English saw is the most advanced of the
foreign departments promises to be- in many respects
one of the most remarkable. Mr.. Cunliffe Owen,
secretary of the British Commission and its vice
president. hopes to have everything in good order
by the 26th when the Prince of Wales who is the
president-and something more than an honorary
one-is to make general inspection. The Crown
Prince of Denmark, now a visitor at Marlborough
House. will accompany the Prince of Wales to Paris
and 90 round the British section with him.
Mr. Cunflfe Owen, who has been In frequent COM
municatiOn with the Prince of Wales on Exhibition
business, declares that Great Britain owes mainly
to the public spirit he showed in looking after her
interests the favored footing on which she stands
in the Champ de Mars and the advanced state of
her tfansept and galleries. No did it become
known that the Prince believed in the Exposition,
than English manufacturers and tradesmen who
had hung back came forward. Mr. COlman, n. p.
for Norwich for instance, who did not intend to ex-
hibit, has spent $4,000 ($25,0OO) in setting mp a
misunderstanding apparatus In the agricultural de-
partment, two manufacturers of agricultural impe-
ments have together gone to an expense OF nearly
s20 900 ($100,000l.
THE PRINCE OF WALES SELECTS THE SECTION.
The Prince of Wales after studying the plan of the
ground and walking over the site, when he was here
some time ago, said " The northwest end is the
one for us. II is close to the belt-raway. the tram
cars and of easy access to pedestrians" NJ. de Dion,
who was charged with the general architectural
plan (he died few days ago from cancerl, had
intended to keep this part for French exhibitors.
But as Europe was in disturbed state, general war
apprehended, and not much confidence was shown
In the prospects of the Exhibition, he, NJ. Krantz,
the engineer-in-chief, and NJ TesSerenc de Bort.
the Minister agreed that it expedient to give the
Prince every possible motive for becoming an active
promoter of the Exhibition. England and her colo
mics were accordingly granedboth the side overlook
ing the garden and facing the Trocadero Hill, and
machine annex. When subsequently the Prince
of Wales promised to send his collection of East
Indian gifts, NJ. de Dion carried courtesy to the
extent of designing for the side of tie
British transept, to the left of the central
entrance, a roof which seen from beneath,
should harmonic with the Oriental work
In answer to a suggestion that good deal Of gild-
ing would be wasted when the building came down,
q commissioner said: 1T has the effect of gold
but the fact is it was nearly all done with chrome
yellow, at trfIng expense. We learned this trick
from Garnier the architect of the New Opera House.
1he value is In the design and in the skill Of the
decorators employed in its execution"
The entire front Of the English section is $40 feet
long A central pavilion, capped with a pagoda
roof is not unlike the discoyer top Of the Pavil-
ion d'HorlOge of the Tuileries. The corner pavll-
ions or square towers correspond to those OF Fore
and Marsan in the former residence OF the Bona
parte family In the one nearest to Paris there Is
to be an Oceanic, Australian, and South African
trophy. and in the farther one Canadian trophy,
having base of thirty feet square, and rising to a
height Of 115 feet. An Imperial monument of in
digenous woods-from Great Britain and Ireland,
and the Greater Britain which has sprung from
them-win be the chief ornament of the central
pavilion A few yards from it to the right, on en-
terlng will be placed the equestrian statue of the
Prince Of Wales, made by BGhm for the
City of Bombay. Mr.. Cunfe Owen, man
of broad views and great executive ability,
sugeested this arrangement The material hold OF
Great upon Greater Britain is very slender. Here,
he thought, was an opportunity for strengthening
the moral tie which ought not to be neglected.
The Prince readily agreed, and prepared to have
the proposal carried out. The Prince hrst held
n leyee at the British COMMISSIONER Office
IN the Avenue-Suffren He showed the Canadians
that he had lively recolet 3ion of the kind atten-
tion he had received durng his visit long since to
their country; inquired for the people who had en-
tertalned him recognized faces which he might
have been pardoned for not recollecting after a
Lapse of nearly seventeen years and spoke OF send
ing his lads" when they leave the traiDingship at
Dartmouth, to make Canadian tour. Australians,
New.Zealanders, West Indians, and so ON, were led
10 hope that the Prince would next year be their