THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION. OF 1889.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1832, 4 May 1888, Page 3

THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION. OF 1889.

(BY OUJR PARIS CO-RESPONDENT,)

The worka at the Exhibition grounds are progressing favorably, aud there ie every reason at present to hope that all will be ready In time In 1889 The Eiffel tower, though not the chief ornnmsnb of the forthcoming Exhibition, will be undoubtedly U3 greatest curiosity. We take the following detaiJß about that huge monument from a very creditable paper: — ''People will raaoh the top of the tower by means of a new type of lift, Invented by M, Eifiol, and built on principles of absolute security. M. Eiffel haa imagined a sort of winding roadbed, from eight to ten metres m diameter, of such a pitch aa to afford 1 moderate gradient. On this spiral railway will move a large track, resting on rollers, which is to work op and down the rails. Motion will be imparted to the truck by means of an endless cable, or by connecting it with a steam or an electric engine ; this is not quite decided. The whole thing suggests the idea of a funicular railway, »nd precludes all possibility of the truck suddenly fifing up or rushing down at a rate faater than the pitch of the rails admits of. And when one gets to the top a panorama over 109 miles m extent will lie below you. Tha purposes to whloh a tower of such enormons proportions could be applied are nnny. It might ee?ve for meteorological and astronomi al observations, for the transmission of heliograph -signals for strategical purposes, or for lighting up a large space of ground by electricity. It will also ba U3cfal for researches m experimental physics " Toe work of construction ia now well under way. Four colossal Iron pillar?, which are to form the support of a platform seventy metres high, alveary rise more than fifty -fize metres above the ground, and the workmen have now fixed the arched girders of the Interior. These girders form the Boppnrt fir the first platform j they now ovartop the Trocade'ro Palace, and the first landing or gallery will Boon be completed. When finished the tower will exceed In attitude ail existing monuments Two hundred thousand rivets and four thousand tons of iron are employed In the portion already erected. The whole tower will be enameled from top to bottom, and its cost will noV axc?ei the figure first laid down— viz., 3,150,000 franoß.