ENGLISH. THE GREAT EXHIBITION. [From the "Times," February 19.]

New Zealander, Volume 7, Issue 546, 9 July 1851, Page 2

ENGLISH. THE GREAT EXHIBITION. [From the " Times," February 19.]

Hkr Majesty and his Royal Highness Prince Albert, accompanied by the Prince of Wales and several other members of the Iloyal Family, paid an early visit to the Exhibition yesterday morning. They inspected the different parts of the building, and watched with interest the process of examining the different packages by the Customhouse officers. Her Majesty has probably never before been so near an eyewitness of the machinery which contributes so largely to the public revenue. The mode in which the work is conducted has its peculiar interest, like everything else connected with this great undertaking. As the waggons containing the packages arri\ c within the building they are driven to the centre of the transept, and there unloaded and marked by a Custom-house officer. From the transept relays of sappers convey the packages in trunks to the compartment of the foreign country whence they come. Deposited in this compartment another band of Custom-house officers are there to receive them, and a fresh party of sappers with chisels and other implements rapidly break open lids or other coverings, and with military determination sweep everything before them until the goods lie revealed. Yesterday the Zollverein compartment was the principal one to which goods were consigned, though arrivals also took place for the Swiss and Canadian collections. Entering within the hoarding, where sappers were vigorously engaged in breaking open great boxes, one might have almost fancied that some scene of plunder was in progress. The variety of articles that the different packages ?prcsentod was also curious, and even the Custom-house people themselves, hardened ns they must be against that Sf eoics of excitement, appeared interested in (he miscellaneous character of their occupation. One box contained a set of trays, another earthenware images, another silk handkerchiefs or gloves, another parasol handles, another a machine for knitting, articles of general merchandise alternated with works of art and specimens of skilful handicraft. And w e may observe that even at this early stage in the anival of foreign goods there are signs that the palm of cheap production, and the merit of an industrial system founded on the principle of utility, are not to be resigned to us without a contest by the States of the Zolhrcrein. Within the space allotted for our native contributions few arrivals have taken place, and beyond the apportionment of ground hardly anything lias yet been done. The flooring is marked out with red paint or chalk, and one sees scrollod on the boards the familiar names of our different manufacturing communities. In the division of machinery, Oldham has taken the lead by commencing the foundations of the complicated and splendid display of cotton machines which are to be exhibited from there. Other places would do well to follow this example, and not to lose a day in forwarding the arrangements of a department on which more than any other probably our industrial reputation depends. It is singular that, as a milliner was the first contributor to the stock of the Exhibition, the small Scotchjown of Dunfermline should have its stall soonest" completed. We hear that some of the large towns, and London especially, are still very far behind with their preparations. Yesterday morning, a little before 11 o'clock, a highly interesting experiment was made at the building with a view to ascertain practically the sti ength of the galleries, both under the condition of supporting what is technically called a dead load, and also a roiling or moving one. A few simple figures will pretty clearly explain the basis of calculation upon which the dimensions of the several parts composing the galleries have been determined. The points of support on plan occuring at the angles of squares of 24 feet, the area of each bay of gallery is equal to 576 square feet. From various experiments which have been made by Mr. Brunei, and by other engineers, it has been found that the average weight of a number of persons standing together in a confined space rarely exceeds 501bs. per square foot; that by packing men as closely together as possible it might be brought up to 7Olbs. or 8Olbs.; and that, not even by picking out the heavy men and gathering them into the smallest compass, could an average of 1 cwt. per square foot be obtained. One cwt. was therefore assumed as an amount certain to cover any unforeseen combination of circumstances. On this assumption no bay of gallery 24 feet square could possibly be called upon to carry a load eqtial to 30 tons. As it was ingeniously contrived by the arrangement of the flooring that the weight should be distributed over four girders, and every girder had been submitted on Ihe ground to a pressure of 15 tons (that being only half the maximum weight that each was capable of supporting) applied exactly at the points upon which the floor would have to be borne, it will be manifest that a very large margin had been left to provide for contingencies arising from any motion which it was possible might be communicated to such a load. The immediate object of the experiment tried yesterday was to secure by various tests of the severest character to what extent oscillations could be conveyed to the gallery by the regular motion of a living load, and to ascertain whether the provision which had been made to meet such contingencies was sufficient. The preparations made for the experiment consisted of the construction of a perfect bay of gallery, with its floor, binders, girders, and connecting pieces, in every respect complete and similar to the actual gallery, supported upon four points bedded upon temporary foundations; rows of planks, the full width of the platform, led up to it and down from it, so that a row of men, as wide as the gallery, might be able to march up and down in close column. Three hundred workmen were first assembled by the contractors, and allowed to cover the platform and the planks connected with it. They were then compressed into the smallest space upon which they could stand. The load borne on the planks represented the share of pressure which would be produced by the crowding of adjacent bays of gallery. The amount of deflection produced by this load was inappreciable. The men then walked regularly and irregularly, und ran over it. The elasticity of the floor allowing play to the timbers and the wrought iron work —was admirably developed by this test, and it became apparent that this quality of elasticity was of the greatest value in protecting the cast iron girders from sudden shock. Thus, in the severest test which could possibly be applied —when the men, standing closely packed together, continued jumping simultaneously for several minutes, although in the regular vibrations of the floor the binders played up and down — the extreme deflection of any of the girders that could be ascertained at any moment did not exceed one- quarter of an inch. As the contractors' men were unable to keep military time in their step, and it was considered desirable to ascertain the effect of perfectly regular oscillations, the whole of the Sappers and Miners on the ground, in close columns, were marched over and over and round and round, and were finally made to mark time in the most trying manner. With the result of this last test the eminent scientific men present expressed themselves highly gratified, observing that while at tli<^

climax of vibration the motion did not exceed that common in ordinary London houses at evening parlies. A minute examination of the several parts of the construction likely to be affected by similar experiments, made immediately upon their completion, bore witness to the fact that no portion hud suffered any injury whatever from the strains to Avhich it had been exposed. When it is remembered that the arrangements for the exhibition in the galleries require passages only six feet wide on the sides of the gallery, counters for light goods occupying the central portion most liable to strain ; and when it is borne in mind that the galleries are of such extent as to render uniform vibration over any considerable portion of their whole area impossible 5 the results of the experiments we have described cannot but be regarded as calculated to relieve the apprehensions of the most timid. The performance of this experiment was_ honoured by the presence of the Royal visitors and their suite. The Earl of Granville and Mr. W. Cubitt, C.E., Royal Commissioners, Mr. I. K. Brunei, Mr. Locke, M.P., Mr. Field, and a few other eminent professional gentlemen, were also present. Colonel Reid, C.8., Mr. Cole, Mr. Dilke, Mr. Bowring, Dr. Lyon Hayfaiv, Mr. "Wyalt, &c, were in attendance. __ J£)r. Lyon Playfair has just completed a very Valuable classification of objects to be exhibited, and which is drawn up not only with a viewto arrangement in the building, but also to bring the subjects in a systematic manner before the juries who have to determine the merits of the articles In each class.

Tnc Great Exhibition. — Fokdigm Ahiutat.s. — The ai avals ef tbiee days from abioad have included the following for the Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of all Nations in Hyde Paik, viz.— s2 packages by the Antwerpen, from Antwerp; 5 by the Albion, from Boulogne; 10 by the Fyenoord, from Rotterdam ; 6 by the I^ame, from Calais ; 15 by the William Jolliffe, from Havre; 31 by the the City of Rotterdam, from Dunkirk; 33 by the Countess of Lonsilale, from Hamburg; 80 packages by the Govevnolo, from Genoa; 30 packages by the Ranger, from Amsterdam ; 265 packages by the Earl of Auckland, from Dunkirk; and 11 packages by the Sir Edward Banks, from Ostend; comprising altogether the largest number of arrivals which hare taken place from abroad for the Exhibition within so short a space or' time. In addition to these, 25 packages have arrived bj a Spanish ship at Plymouth from Santander, which have been forwarded to the Exhibition building ; and several arrivals at Southampton, fiom India, for the East India Company, which have been forwarded to their warehouses in London, under special piivilege from the Treasury, for examination and trnnsmission to their destination. The latter have included a quantity of very viluahle jewels from Lahore, which have been sent by the Government of India for the Exhibition, and which, for the purpose of security, were sent direct to the Ea&t India House.

Tan Political Bee vk-up. — 'Never was a political crisis precipitated for reasons so inadequat e as those assigned by Lord John Russell in the House of Commons on Monday for the self-disso-lution of his Cabinet. The reasons set fovth in his formal statement amount to this — that Government had only a majority of 14 two days before the financial statement was made ; that in a House of 1 50 Ministers were beaten by a majority of two to one on Mr. Locke King's motion; that on " other measures and other incidental questions" they " might meet with similar defeats ;" and therefore he resigned. That a Government should continue "liable to defeats from time to time," and " carry on a kind of lingering existence during gieatpart of the session," he thought to be a very dangerous and a very disadvantageous thing for the country. Now, these reasons, we say, aie insufficient and unusual, having a regard to the consequences j!which threatened to follow Lord John Russell's habty act of resignation. Whig Ministries have before consented to a lingering existence on a "working majority" of less than 14; under many ciicumstnnces Mr. King's success would have been treated as an accident; the pith of the whole explanation lies in Lord John's apprehensions of the future — he shrank from facing the future as it had been prepared mainly by himself. We must seek the real reasons, then, underneath this allusive implication, and there truly we find them, obvious and simple enough. In every great branch of his Administration he had so contrived as to fritter away the strength of Government in bringing matters to an inextricable entanglement, so that in each branch it had become positively impossible j to go on. His allusion to the future implies a spontaneous turning back for which the historian of the Constitution would probably be unable to find a parallel ; the Chancellor of the Exchequer has proposed a budget, most elaborately prepared ; it has encountered no resistance ; but before the week is out Lord John loses all heart to encounter the trouble of carrying it through ! It was the same with the Eecleslnstical Titles Bill — a poor measure, which would have created no vast agitation if he had abandoned it ; but in that affair Lord John had effectually precluded himself, by the ineffaceable Durham letter, from going back, by the composition of his bill from going on, and by the sensation which he had got up from standing still. In the government of Ireland the Whigs had obtained some credit,— all swept away iv favour of this unworkable antiPapal project. Even in matters of an unpolitical kind, the utmost was done to spoil the credit which was almost forced upon Ministers. Measures of improvement were avowed to be necessary, and promised only to be put off — such as Mr. Baines's Poor Law, Amendments, the Franchise Extension, and the Law Amendments. If Ministers were not in earnest, other persons were ; and an impression was created in many quarters that Ministers only repaid sincerity by a deliberate desire to make fools of honest people. Some of the most important legal appointments were unpopular, and the promises of comprehensive law reforms distrusted. Lord John failed even in the primary essential of preserving consentaneous action and discipline amongst his colleagues. His right hand did not know what his left hand did. For example, the Lord Chancellor did not know in which House the Chancery bill was to be introduced, and he confessed to the Peers his ignorance at the very time when Lord J. Russell was announcing his intention to the Commons, Tfc is shrewdly suspected that Lord John Russell himself did not previously know the budget with which Sir Charles Wood was to amuse the bouse on the 17th. Not only without a policy, Lord John was also without any plan for keeping his Cabinet together. These are the obvious and substantial reasons why his Governmeut could not go on ; in every branch his policy was impracticable and self-destructive ; he had no mastery over his own Cabinet. Being in a position to have it all his own way, he had so managed matters as to render the going on an impossibility. His political bankruptcy entailed stoppage also on his own party. But it did not become them to reproach him ; for their overthrow was the fault of their own misconduct. lie had been the spoilt child of the Whigs, and they had made him the idol of their party ; in their total discomfiture we see the punishment which attends the sin of idol-worship. Their adhesion went far beyond the faithful following of_ an effective leader. Lord John had, indeed, acquired considerable tact in House of Commons exhibition and management, from a long experience in that arena. JBufc Whigs and Liberals chose to take claptrap "management of the House" for statesmanship— to accept in lieu of deeds, promises never growing into acts, vaunting riminiscences of struggles never to be renewed, or sounding babble about Fox, and Mackintosh, and Burke distinguished prototypes. So fell the Whigs. We have seen a "great party in the State" broken up before in idolatry not dissimilar ; for the Tories chose to cling to Peel after his

o vn lanourg ■ had mar'ccd that he <1I I not boloii" to them ; but they liked to impute to him the virtue of insincerity, and their idol failed theiii. Other "great parties" perchance relict, of that one, may come into j)ower and may repeat the lesson. For we see no change in the tempei of politicians to indicate a recovery from the stile of tilings which brought on the present criois. All the parties into which Parliament is divided stick to their own crotchets, unable to disengage themselves from Protection or Free Trade dogmas, Whig or Conservative; unable to go upon existing facts and construct a policy based on the actual state of the country, its needs and opportunities. Each party is too small to be a majority, and none takes up a course which shall include several, for the notices which now go ti begging belong all to the past — to the Anti-Corn-law days, or to a great departed statesman, even to Mr. Canning's time, or further back. If it is physically impossible to go back, it is equally impossible to go forward with the used-up deeds of the past. But the real cause of embarrassment lies yet deeper — in the very condition of a community broken up into sectional ideas, class or clique interests, and decided only ia negatives and scepticisms. We may blame Lord John Russell, but he was the very man who remained. — Times.