HEPOKT 01’ VISCOUNT CANNING.

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APPENDIX XIX.

Kurort of Viscount Canning on presenting tlic Awards of the Juries to theKoyal Commission, and the Kerry of Ills Koyal Highness Prince Albert .

Having had tlio honour of acting as President of the Council of Chairmen of the Juries, itfalls to mo to lay before your Royal Highness and Her Majesty’s Commissioners the Reportsof the several Jurios upon the subjects submitted to them for examination, and the names ofthe exhibitors whom they have judged entitled to rewards.

In doing so, it will bo convenient that 1 should state brielly the Principle upon which, bythe authority of Her Majesty’s Commissioners, the Juries wore constituted.

The various Subjects included in the Exhibition woro divided, in the iirst instance, intoThirty Classes. Of these, two wore subsequently found to embrace holds of action too largofor Single Jurios, and were therefore divided into Sub-Juries. This increased the numbor ofActing Jurios to Thirty-four.

Each of those Thirty-four Juries consisted of an equal number of British subjects and ofForeigners. The British Jurors wore selected by Her Majesty’s Commissioners from listsfurnished by the Local Committees of various towns, each town being invited to recommendpersons of skill and information in the manufactures or produce for which it is remarkable.The Foreign Jurors wore appointed by authorities in their own countries, in such relativeproportion amongst themselves as was agreed upon by tho Foreign Commissioners sent heroto represent their respective Governments.

In the event of aJuryhiuling themselves deficient in technical knowledge of any articlesubmitted to thorn, they were empowered to call in tho aid of Associates. Tlieso Asso-ciates, who acted as advisers only, without a vote, but whoso services were of tho greatestvalue, wore selected either from tho J urymon of othor classes, or from tho lists of personswho had been recommended as Jurors,but who had not been permanently appointed to any Jury.

Each J ury was superintended by a Chairman, chosen from its number by I lor Majesty’s Com-missioners. The Deputy-Chairman and tho Reporter were elected by the Jurors themselves.

Such was the constitution of tho Thirty-four Jurios taken singly. They did not, however,act independently of each other, inasmuch as they woro associated into six Groups, eachGroup consisting of such Juries as had to deal with subjects in some dogreo of kindrednature ; and before any decision of a Jury could bo considered as final, it was required that itshould bo brought boforo tho assembled Group of which that Jury formed a part, and that itshould bo approved by them.

The ehiof object of this provision was that none of tho many Foreign Nations taking partill tho Exhibition should incur tho risk of seeing its interests overlooked or neglected fromthe accident (an unavoidable ono in many instances) of its being unrepresented in any parti-cular Jury.

Each Group of Juries received the assistance of a Deputy Commissioner and of a SpecialCommissioner, appointed by llor Majesty’s Commissioners to record its proceedings, tofurnish information respecting tho arrangements of tho Exhibition, and otherwise to facilitatethe labours of the Juries composing the Group.

It was further determined by ilor Majesty’s Commissioners that the Chairmen of thoJuries, consisting of British subjects and of Foreigners in oqual numbers, should be formedinto a Council; and that tho dutios of the Council should bo, to determine the conditionsupon which, in accordance with certain general principles previously laid down by tierMajosty’s Commissioners, tlio different Frizes should bo awarded ; to frame rules to guido thoworking of tlio Jurios; and to seouro, as far as possible, uniformity in tlio result of theirproceedings.

Tlieso are tlio most important features of tho system upon which the J urors found them-selves organized. I will now refer brielly to their courso of action.

Tlio Council of Chairmen , in proceeding to tho discharge of their duties, were met at thooutsot by a serious difficulty, ilor Majesty’s Commissioners had expressed themselvesdesirous that merit should bo rewarded wherever it presented itself, but anxious at tho sametime to avoid tlio recognition of competition between individual Exhibitors. They had alsodecided that the Frizes should consist in throe Medals of different sizes ; anil that these shouldbo awarded, not as lirst, second, and third in dogroo for tlio same class of subjects and merit,but as marking morit of different kinds and character.

Tlio Council of Chairmen found, to tlioir regret, that it would bo impossible to lay downany rules for tlio awarding of the three Medals by which the appearance at least of denotingdifferent degrees of success amongst exhibitors in tlio saiuo branch of production oould beavoided. Accordingly, after fully explaining their difficulty to Her Majesty’s Commissioners,they requested, as a courso by which it might bo materially diminished, that ono of the Medalsmight bo withdrawn.

Of tlio remaining two, they suggested that one, the Frizo Medal, should be conferredwherever a certain standard of excellence in production or workmanship had boon attained—utility, beauty, cheapness, adaptation to particular markets and other element's of merit being