XXXII

EXHIBITION OF 1851.

half wlmt was demanded, they decided, with certain necessary exceptions, to reducethe average amount allowed to each Exhibitor in the proportion of the spacedemanded to the space which could he given, and then calculating the number olExhibitors returned by eacli district, and allowing the reduced average amount olspace for each, they assigned (as a general rule) the amount so obtained to eachlocality. They did not, however, prescribe the mode in which the space so allottedshould be divided, but left it to the Local Committee to distribute it among such olthe applicants lor space, and in such proportions as would best secure a lair repre-sentation of the industry of their district, only requiring them to adhere to the limitassigned to the total amount of space. They also requested them to observe, as nearlyas possible, the proportions between the four sections of the Exhibition deduced bythe Commissioners from the returns lirst made. Forms of vouchers were supplied tothe several committees, Idled up witli the names of the Exhibitors, the nature ol thearticles they tendered for exhibition, and the extent of space they demanded, asshown by the original applications; these vouchers were then subjected to revisionand correction by the Local Committee, in order to reduce the entire demand to theproper amount, and were then signed and forwarded to the Commissioners, towhom they became an authority for setting apart a certain amount of space loreach individual, liy this process the number of intending Exhibitors was reducedfrom 8,213 to 6,924, and the amount of horizontal space from 416,354 to 201,480square feet. (See Appendix No. XL.)

The only exception to this mode of proceeding was in the ease of the makers olagricultural implements and machinery, a department which was placed under theseparate management of the Committee of the Royal Agricultural Society, alreadyalluded to, by whom the total space assigned to agricultural implements was allottedamong the various Exhibitors throughout the kingdom.

A Return exhibiting the manner in which the total space provided in the Buildingwas employed, whether as exhibiting space, passages, refreshment courts, &c., 13given in Appendix No. XII.

Classification, Arrangement, and Reception of the Goods.

Classification of the Goods .

The general plan for the division of the Exhibition, originally adopted by theSociety of Arts at the suggestion of His Royal Highness Prince Albert, distributedit into four great sections; the lirst comprising the raw materials which naturesupplies to the industry of man; the second, the machinery by which man worksupon those materials ; the third, the manufactured articles which lie produces ; andthe fourth representing the art which he employs to impress them with the stampof beauty. This division having been adopted by the Commissioners, they P 10 'cecded to frame detailed lists of the various kinds of articles which would beadmissible under each head, a task which they intrusted to seven Committees,already mentioned, under the name of the Committees of Sections, consisting