George Collins Levey

“ A World’s Industrial Fair was held at New Orleans in 1884–1885, and there were universal Exhibitions at Montenegro and Antwerp in 1885, at Edinburgh in 1886, Liverpool, Adelaide, Newcastle and Manchester in 1887, and at Glasgow, Barcelona and Brussels in 1888. Melbourne held an International Exhibition in 1888–1889 to celebrate the Centenary of Australia. Great Britain, Germany, France, Austria and the United States were officially represented, and an expenditure of £237,784 was incurred by the local government. ”

“ Scattered about the grounds, in addition to those in the Trocadero, were the buildings of San Marino, Morocco, Ecuador and Korea. Nearly every civilized country in the world was represented at the exhibition, the most conspicuous absentees being Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and some other South and Central American Republics, and a number of the British colonies. ”

“ Special buildings had been erected by the British colonies and by British India. Canada, West Australia and Mauritius occupied the former, India and Ceylon the latter. For the first time since the war of 1870 Germany took part in a French International Exhibition, and the exhibits showed the great industrial progress which had been made since the foundation of the empire in 1870. The United States made a fine display, and fairly divided the honours with Germany. ”

“ The government of the Netherlands was to a certain extent responsible for the administration of the exhibition, but the funds were obtained from private sources, and a charge was made to each nation represented for the space it occupied. The United Kingdom, India, Victoria and New South Wales took part in the exhibition, but there was no official representation of the mother country. ”

“ Instead of international juries, a single judge was appointed for each class, and the recompenses were all of one grade, a bronze medal and a diploma, on which was stated the reasons which induced the judge to make his decision. ”

“ In the report of the jury the following remarkable sentence appeared:—“There is not an artist or inventor who, once obtaining thus a public recognition of his ability, has not found his reputation and his business largely increased.” The third Paris Exhibition, held in 1802, was the first to publish an official catalogue. There were 540 exhibitors, including J. E. Montgolfier, the first aëronaut, and J. M. Jacquard, the inventor of the loom which bears his name. The fourth exhibition was held in 1806 in the esplanade in front of the Hôtel des Invalides, and attracted 1422 exhibitors. ”

“ The foreign countries represented were Argentina, Austria, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Curaçoa, Denmark, Danish West Indies, Ecuador, France, Germany, Greece, Guatemala, Honduras, Hayti, Japan, Johore, Korea, Liberia, Mexico, Monaco, Netherlands, Norway, Orange Free State, Paraguay, Persia, Portugal, Russia, Siam, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, United Kingdom and Colonies, Uruguay and Venezuela. ”