FIRST REPORT OF COMMISSIONERS.

x\'ii

from the first issue of the Commission that no part of the funds for carrying on theExhibition was to come out of Her Majesty’s Exchequer, the Lords of the Treasuryrequired that, before making such an intimation to the Society of Arts , they shouldreceive from the Royal Commission an assurance that the necessary sums should beforthcoming when wanted, which assurance the Commissioners accordingly gave.

It may here be well to state that the amounts advanced by the Messrs. Monday,namely £20,000 invested for the prize fund, and £2,500 advanced lor generalpurposes, were repaid, with the interest due upon the same, on the 22nd Nov. 1850 ;and that the question of compensation for the loss of time, personal services, andrisk of the contractors, having been referred by mutual consent to Robert Stephen-son, Esq., M.l\, that gentleman, after a full inquiry into the circumstances, andafter hearing counsel on the case, ultimately, on the 21st July 1851, fixed theamount payable to the Messrs. Munday at £5,120 and the costs, which sum hasaccordingly been paid to those gentlemen.

The Commissioners having now, by the determination of the contract, taken uponthemselves the responsibility of finding the sums necessary for carrying on the Exhi-bition, proceeded forthwith to invite the public to contribute to this great nationalobject. A subscription list was immediately opened, and in announcing to the publicthe step they had taken, the Commissioners stated that they would hold themselvesexclusively responsible for the application of the funds which might be subscribed,and would proceed without delay to establish regulations for ensuring an effectualcontrol over the expenditure, and a satisfactory audit of the accounts.

The subscriptions promised to the undertaking were made public from time totime as they were announced. The total amount reported was £79,224 13s. 4cL,of which sum £67,896 12s. 9 d. had been actually paid to the credit of the Com-mission on the 29th February, 1852. A portion of the subscriptions received insome of the provincial districts was retained to defray the expenses of collection andlocal management.

At the commencement of the Commissioners ’ proceedings, while they wereincurring no expenses beyond those of the remuneration of their officers, and thenecessary outlay on printing, advertising, and other comparatively small items, thesubscriptions received from time to time were amply sufficient for their wants ; andthey did not experience any inconvenience from the want of a more definite legalposition than that of a mere Commission of Inquiry. But when, in the month ofduly 1850, the plan for a building estimated to cost £79,800 had been approved,and it became necessary that a contract should be made for its erection, questionsnaturally arose as to the power of the Commission to enter into and to enforce sucha contract,—as to the person or persons by whom such contract should be signed,and the individual responsibility which, by so signing it, they would incur,—and asto the mode in which the money that would be required beyond the amount of thesubscriptions received was to be provided.

Those considerations led to the Commissioners ’ soliciting and obtaining from HerMajesty a Royal Charter of Incorporation, dated August 15, 1850 (see page x.),

h