H.—32.

2

In the case of exhibitors who may not think it necessary to appoint an agent or attendant, the Superintendent will, on due request made by the 10th of the month of April, employ some official to give information, who will install and arrange the goods at the exhibitor's charge. Endeavours will be made to obtain for exhibitors favourable terms for freight by railroad and steamboat. All show-cases, stands, shelves, and other fittings must be erected at the charge of the exhibitor, and subject to the approval of the Superintendent. All objects shown must be numbered and properly labelled and described, with the maker's or exhibitor's name, address, and, if possible, the price at which similar articles will be sold. The Directors of the Crystal Palace Company will not on any account be responsible for loss or damage, from whatever cause arising, to cases, fittings, or any articles exhibited. Exhibitors can effect insurance on their own account. Exhibitors must furnish the necessary information for the Official Catalogue before the Ist March, 1881. Those desirous of advertising in the catalogue must make their application to the Superintendent by the Ist May, 1881, for the necessary arrangements to be made for such insertion, and for the amount of payment thereof. Exhibitors must conform to all rules laid down by the Directors. A detailed programme of the various classes of goods admissible can be obtained on application to the undersigned. P L. Simmokds, Superintendent of the International Exhibition Department, Crystal Palace, Sydenham.

The Great International Exhibitions, which commenced in the United Kingdom in 1851, have in the course of time grown too large and expensive to be carried out in their entirety without considerable loss, and there appears to be no present prospect of their being resumed in England on the general extended scale. The Crystal Palace being the offspring of the first great British. International Exhibition, the Directors are desirous, as far as possible, of carrying out the original intentions and objects contemplated —namely, of affording manufacturers and the public, home and foreign, the opportunity of noting the progress which has been made in different countries in the arts, manufactures, and various industries, by the application of science and invention. Having space at command, motive-power for machinery, two millions of visitors annually, an organized staff, and a close connection with the chief industrial, artistic, and scientific societies, with many other advantages possessed nowhere else, and ten years having elapsed since the last official annual Exhibitions were commenced, the Directors have arranged to hold a series of special International Exhibitions of different classes of manufactures. They will commence in 1881 with an International Exhibition of wool and its varied applications and manufactures, with those of a few allied products, and of the machinery and implements relating thereto. The demand for wool has increased with marvellous rapidity, and this raw material is produced more or less largely in all countries. But it is to the Australian and African Colonies that Europe is now mainly indebted for its supplies of superior merino wool. Of the 411,000,000 Ib. of wool imported into this country in 1879, nearly 355,000,000 lb. came from the British Possessions. The woollen manufacture now ranks second in importance of the British textile industries, wool being much preferred to any other material for nearly all clothing purposes. Although London is the centre of supply of wool, to the Continent, and buyers are attracted here in large numbers, yet an interchange of manufactured products takes place even between competing countries. Buyers who come over to London to attend the periodical wool sales have little opportunity of examining, in the confusion and competition of the sale-rooms, the characters and qualities of the raw wools exposed, or of ascertaining the names of the wool-growers. A more leisurely and advantageous opportunity will be afforded to purchasers and manufacturers, in the proposed Exhibition, to examine all classes of wools and hair, and the fabrics made with them, and to obtain details of progress, improvements, prices, machinery, &c.

PEOGEAMME OP OBJECTS ADMISSIBLE. I.—Sheep's Wool. Raw Wools. —Fleece wool, skin wool, lambs' wool, fine merino, combing wool, clothing wool, lustre wool, demi-lustre, down and naif-bred, extract wool, woollen rags for shoddy andmungo, woollen flocks for paperhangings, dressed sheep and lamb skins, coats and caps made of them. Prepared Wools and Manufactures. —Woollen yarn, worsted yarn, genappe yarn, fingering yarns for knitting and embroidery "Woollen Mantjfacttjkes. Broadcloths, Coatings, Duffels, Sfc, Plain, AM Wool, or Mixed with other Materials. Army cloths, doeskin, cassimeres, sataras, Venetians, meltons, beavers, deerskins, diagonals, pilots, reversibles, devons, Spanish stripes, fancy coatings, victoria twills. Narrow Cloths, Coatings, Duffels, Sfc, of Wool, or Mixed with other Materials. Trouserings —Bedford cords, kerseymeres, elastics. Sealskins, astracans, doeskins, chinchillas, poiarians. Shoddy and raungo fabrics, frieze, tweeds, tartans, horse-rugs, saddle-cloths, carriage-cloihs, fancy rugs and mauds, blankets and blanketing, billiard-cloths, baize and serge, tablecovers, coverlets, railway rugs and wraps, felt of wool or hair for rollers, hats, gloves, shoes, &c.