INTRODUCTION.

29

From the twenty-second day the prices of admission will be as follows :—

On Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays in

each week . . ... . . . . Is. Od.

On Fridays ........ 2s. 6c?.

On Saturdays till August 2 . . . . , . 5s. Od.

And on August 9 reduced to ..... 2s. 6 d.

No change will be given at the doors. This regulation is necessary to prevent the incon-venience and confusion which would arise from interruption or delay at the entrances.Should experience in the progress of the Exhibition render any alteration in these arrange-ments necessary, the Commissioners reserve to themselves the power of making such modi-fications as may appear desirable, of which due and timely notice, however, will be given tothe public. At the first opening of the Exhibition, the hours of admission were fixed from10 A.M. till 6 P.M., and subsequently altered to sunset.

Upon the question how far, and in what instances, any parties should befurnished with free admissions, the Committee reported,—

That it is very desirable that that privilege should be restricted to as few cases as pos-sible, and feeling the importance of carrying out to the greatest practicable extent a regulationof this nature, they would submit whether it might not be expedient that the Commis-sioners should place themselves in the same position as the public in general with regardto the admission to the Exhibition. The members of the Executive Committee haveexpressed their wish to subject themselves to the same conditions as the Royal Commis-sioners in this respect.

The following are the cases in which the Committee would recommend that anexception to the general rule should be made, and free admissions granted:—

1st. Persons in the employment of, and provided with tickets issued by the ExecutiveCommittee, such as the heads of sectional departments, the clerks, the watchers, thecleaners, the Police, the Sappers and Miners. 2nd. Servants of Foreign Commissionersand of exhibitors admitted under the provisions of the 14th published decision of the Com-missioners for the purpose of watching the goods sent by their employers, or explainingthem to visitors; such servants being provided with tickets issued by the Executive Com-mittee under strict regulations to be hereafter laid down. 3. The press, both metropolitanand provincial; the tickets in both cases admitting the editor or his representative.4th. The juries, on the production of tickets that have been issued and registered by theExecutive Committee, on certain days to be hereafter fixed by the Executive Committee.*

And the power of carrying these rules into effect was given to the ExecutiveCommittee.

The inauguration of the Exhibition took place on 1st May, in accordance withthe arrangements laid down in the accompanying document, which was publishedby the Commissioners:—■

Her Majesty having signified her royal pleasure that arrangements should be madeto enable Her Majesty to gratify a wish very generally expressed on the part of the public,to be present at a ceremony by which Her Majesty should open the Exhibition of theWorks of Industry of all Nations, on the 1st of May, Her Majesty’s Commissioners herebygive notice that the programme of this ceremony, and the regulations under which the holdersof season tickets will be admitted, are as follow :—

Exhibitors’ attendants who have been sanctioned by the Executive Committee will beadmitted between the hours of 8 and 9 o’clock, at doors specified on their cards, and willimmediately take their places by the counters or objects exhibited by their employers.

* The total number of visits made to the Exhibition was six millions and sixty-three thousandnine hundred and eighty-six (6,063,986), the highest number being on Tuesday, October 7, when itreached 109,915 persons.