7
APPENDIX No. II.
Decisions of Her Majesty’s Commissioners, and Regulations of the Executive
Committee.
[In carrying on the business of the undertaking, and the vast correspondence which arose out of it,the Executive Committee were saved much, time, labour, and misunderstanding by having a printedcode of rules or principles to which each person could be referred.
The best foundation for this were the decisions of the lioyal Commissioners laid down at thecommencement of their operations. They were printed in the form of a small pamphlet, and in suc-cessive editions, those additional decisions were added which th/e progress of the undertaking, and thevarious and often unexpected questions which arose, rendered necessary. The most important of theregulations issued by the Executive Committee on special subjects were also, from time to time,incorporated. They are now submitted, with a few unimportant alterations and some additionsmade after the last publication, in the form in which they were issued to the public, without anyattempt to codify them or arrange them in that systematic order which would be desirable, and indeednecessary, if the arrangements to which the regulations alluded were of a more enduring character,or were to be repeated, but which order was impossible in issuing them, from time to time, as theywere decided on.
A few remarks by Mr. Cole, Mr. Billce, and Captain Owen (General Superintendent of theBuilding), upon the working of some of the decisions and regulations, have been appended in smallertype and in brackets, with the hope that the experience derived from the present Exhibition may beof use should another take place at a future time.']
DECISIONS,—GENERAL CONDITIONS.
1. The Commissioners have fixed upon tho 1st day of May, 1851, for Opening theExhibition.
2. Her Majesty has been graciously pleased to grant a site for the Exhibition on thesouth side of Ilydo Park, lying between the Kensington Drive and tho Hide commonly calledltottcn Row.
[As other sites were originally suggested, it may ho well to say that the one chosen proved exceedinglygood, the acocss being so very convenient.]
3. Tho Commissioners will be prepared to receive all articles which may bo sent to them,with the sanction of the proper Foreign, Colonial, or Local Committee, on or after tho 1st ofJanuary, 1851, and will continue so to receive goods until the 1st of March inclusive, afterwhich day no further goods will be received.
[Reference to a table in Appendix XII1. (p. 75) will show in wlmt space of time the goods wereactually received; in fact the building was not ready for their reception until long after the 1st ofJanuary. Experience, therefore, lias shown that an allowance of two mouths for the admissionand arrangement of heavy articles would have proved Builicient (brick foundations when requiredbeing previously prepared), whilst for the lighter goods, especially woven fabrics, precious metals,and philosophical instruments, a fortnight before the opening would have been enough, if the giusscases and fittings were ready. A shorter period still would have been sufficient for articles broughtin by hand.
4. Exhibitors will be required to deliver their objects, at their own charge and risk, attho Pudding in Ilydo Park, Kensington Road.
5. The Building will bo provided to tho Exhibitors freo from rent.
(i. Tho Building generally will be of one story only.
[A larger space than was originally contemplated being found requisite, the Galleries were increased,so that in the building ns opened to the public they furnished about one-fourth of the space, or240,000 square feet. In the Galleries the centre was devoted to the exhibition of the goods, andtwo passages for visitors were reserved, each six feet wide ; these latter would have been moreconvenient if the one looking into the Nave had been seven feet wide.]
7. The productions of all nations will bo admitted.
9. Any Manufacturer exhibiting articles which can properly bo placed together accordingto the classification already announced, will bo at liborty to arrange such articles in his ownway ; and his arrangements, if compatible with the convenience of other Exhibitors and of thepublic, will not be disturbed. In like manner, if it is wished to exhibit together tho produc-tions of a particular town or district, all such productions, if they can fairly be said to be ofthe same sort, will bo admitted together. The decision whether they are so admissible ornot, must of course rest in each case with tho discretion of the Commissioners.
10. Whore it is desired to exhibit processes of manufacture, a sufficient number of articles,