THE PRINCE AND PRINCESS OF WALES AT BIRMINGHAM.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXX, Issue 4332, 6 February 1875, Page 2 (Supplement)

THE PRINCE AND PRINCESS OF WALES AT BIRMINGHAM.

Luncheon over, the royal party set out with their escort on a tour of inspection over one or two of the manufactories which form the distinctive sights of the town. They visited the electro-plate works of Messrs. Elkington, the pen-making works of Messrs. Gillott, and the coinage works of Heaton & Son. They were, at any rate, supposed to see over these establishments, though to have formed a fair hlea of any one of them would have taken more time than their Royal Highnesses were enabled to devote, to the entire borough. To “do Messrs Elkington’s establishment in even a couple of hours one must have a more wonderful rapidity of vision than even the Hanging Committee of the Royal Academy, who are supposed to take in all the merits of a work in a space of time variously estimated at from three seconds to three seconds and a fifteenth. On entering the building the royal party were met by the principals of the firm, and were conducted by a hall and staircase which, considering the pretty well known character of their permanent decorations, may fairly be called famous, to the showrooms filled with every kind of artwork — from the moderate to the most costly—in electroplate and silver. Eii'st to engage the attention of the illustrious visitors was the Helicon.vase, an equisite specimen of silver and steel repovssec, damascened in gold, which was one of the notable features in the Vienna Exhibition, and with which the Prince from his prolonged examination was evidently pleased to renew acquaintance. It is the chef d’ cenrrc of that eminent artist, M. Morel Lacleuil, "who had the honour of being presented to Ills Royal Highness. Near this was the magnificent silver centrepiece manufactured by the Ann for presentation to Baron Albert Grant, by the conservatives of Kidderminster. There was also shown, elegantly aranged on a central table, a superb dinner service of gold plate, just completed for the Nizam of the Deccan, which is of such exceptional splendour as must certainly dazzle the eyes even of an Eastern Potentate. Prom here the visitors passed into the art workrooms. In a studio—half sculptors, half designers—amidst models of the typical forms of beauty in ancient and modern art, were found a large staff of gentlemen whose ideas may be said to set the whole establishment in motion, under the generalship of the artist in chief M. Willms. All the rest that was seen, though it was infinitely more complex could only be considered an extension into details of this one really impressive scene. ' Beyond this the royal visitors were shown a variety of processes of art manufacture hardly to be enumerated here. They might have learned—if it was possible to remember it, where so much was to be remembered—the difference between the Japanese enamelling lately introduced by the Messrs. Elkington and the Ereuoh method. They were shown the manufacture of a teapot from the first stage of rough fashioning that it were flattery to call a shape, to the last of gracefullines and bold embossments in repoussic work or fanciful surface ornamentation with the graver. ’ The familiar dish cover of private life was stamped out of a flat plate of metal in a few great blows, and the spoons and forks, on which wo depend through life, were caught in the middle of their Electro-Silver hath. The intermediate stages led them to the electroplating x-oom, where the shapes are placed in solutions of silver or of pure gold to receive the coating of the precious metals ; to the electro-typing-house, where there is a force of electricity sufficient to strike ten thousand men dead at one shock, if so many could be induced to grasp hands and to place two of their number in communication with the instrument; and to the stamping-house, where a press, built on the same principle as the Nasmyth hammer, strikes dish covers out of dies, many of which must be larger than the largest projectiles known to modern artillery men. To attempt to describe one tithe of what was brought under the notice of the Prince and Princess is impossible ; and it would be difficult to do full justice to the consideration which was shown by the firm, for the comfort of all their visitors. No labor seemed to have been spared. The works were decorated within as well as without ; crimson carpet was laid throughout the yards and passages, and three temporary bridges had been eonstnxeted solely to facilitate communication between one part of the extensiveestablishmentandthe other. Throughout their promenade in, this little world of manufacture, their Royal Highnesses appeai'ed to take the deepest iutei'est in the various departments. We have not space to go further into details, but we cannot close without mentioning that while in the electro-deposit!rig department the Princess herself gilded a handsome .and valuable vase, which, when it is finished, will he forwarded to her as a memento of H.R.H.’s visit to the Midland metropolis. On returning to the show room, a handsome basket of natural flowex-s, coated with silver and gold, was presented to the Princess by Miss Elkington, and in reply her Royal Highness said she was very much pleased with her visit to the works, and the basket of flowers she would always look upon as a souvenir of her visit. The xxames written in the visitor's’ book were “Albert Edward,” “Alexandra,” “ Aylesford," “ Edith Aylesford,” “ Louise Manchester,” “ Adelaide Westmoreland,” “ Prince Dolgorouki ” and “ Arthur Ellis.”