FINANCIAL PROSPECTS OF THE CENTENNIAL.

Evening Star, Issue 4233, 20 September 1876, Page 3

FINANCIAL PROSPECTS OF THE CENTENNIAL.

From the ideas collected up to the present, writes the correspondent of the Melbourne ' Argus' on June i, it is pretty evident that unless the midsummer festivities awaken an enthusiasm not now perceptible, the gate receipts will fall short of the. amount necessary to render the Exhibition a financial success. Of the 25,000 or 30,000 persons who have entered the grounds daily since May 10 —on one day (a holiday) the number i*o ;e to 60,000, and the average for June promises to be 35,000 —no less than 7,000 or 8,000 passed in free as exhibitors, exhibitors' attendants, holders of complimentary tickets, arid; The estimate of the commission- —to be borne out—requires an attendance of 65,000 a-day. The actual figures are so much in arrears that it is not likely the f usn hoped for in July and in September wilt raise the gross receipts beyond 50 or 60 p£T cent of the anticipated total. At the c!o& e > therefore, the Americans will find that the big thing they set their hearts on has cost them a great deal of money. An exhibition on a less magnificent scale would have answered- aljf,purposesenabled America as well as the countries abroad to show che useful Jesuits of a century of progress, and given the people a fair opportunity to examine and understand what bad been achieved.

, The Sioux Indians of the BL*ok Hill Country are desirous of promoting settlement. They say they'll "s ttle" any white man that there. The only bond Odts they require is that the sel etor shall have a good head of hair.