DISASTROUS EXHIBITIONS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVII, Issue 14492, 5 October 1910, Page 9

DISASTROUS EXHIBITIONS.

A TALE OF INTERNATIONAL FAILURES. i Brussels Exhibition now furnishes another example of the disaster which appears to overtake exhibitions. It will never lie possible to state, with anything like accuracy, the monetary loss caused by the great fire, as there are so many adventitious circumstances to take into account. International exhibitions, however, have almost invariably proved to be financial failures. It was the famous exhibition of 1851, held in Hyde Park, which gavo rise to the great craze for world's shows which has existed ever, since. True, there were a number of national exhibitions before this, but nothing undertaken upon the same scale. For example, tlio Society of Arts held one in London in 1791, which was followed eight years later by a greater exhibition in Paris, which also held others in 1802 and 1805. As a matter of fact, tho most noteworthy of these early exhibitions stands to tho credit of Ireland, being held at Dublin, 1629. The "Great Exhibition," as it has ever | been known, of 1851, was primarily due to ; the action of the Society of Arts, though I thero can be no doubt that the greatest j amount of credit was duo to Prince Albert. , The exhibition was hailed throughout the I world as tho first great step in bringing about the brotherhood of -mankind, and it certainly gave an enormous stimulus to J British industry, and to tho spread of our commerce throughout the world. THE FIRST CRYSTAL PALACE. The exhibition' was held in tho Crystal Palace, which was afterwards removed to Sydenham, the glass building having a length in feet equal to the year it was held. There was an average of 42,000-visitors each day, the total being 6,000,000, and it happened that a very large profit was realised, as the total receipts of over £500,000 yielded a surplus of £200,000. _ Once the craze was in full swing exhibitions were held at Dublin, New York, and Paris, all of which proved complete financial failures. Thus the Paris Exhibition of 1855 had only about half the daily attendance of the London Exhibition, while the total receipts did not mount up to £130,000. Then in 1862 this country decided to eclipse its former great effort by producing the most gigantic exhibition known. Arrangements were) made on a truly magnificent scale, despite which the attendance of visitors did not exceed that of the- former exhibition. The res.ult was a loss of somewhere about £10,000 when the doors closed. Even these disastrous exhibitions did not put a stop to the craze, quite a number of others being held, including that which was such a huge failure at Dublin. Then came tho Paris Exhibitoin oil 1867, on such a colossal scale as completely outshone all its predecessors. The total area covered was 37 acres, as compared with tho 19 acres of the 1851 Exhibition, while the number of visitors amounted to half as many again. Despite this, however, this was another failure, as, although £800,000 was expended, the total receipts amounted to only about half this sum. Still undeterred by tho long tale of disaster, Vienna entered the field in 1873. The result was worse than ever, as the exhibition was grossly mismanaged and badly organised, being a complete failure from every point of view, and involving a heavy loss. A SAD STORr. It was in 1871 that London began the experiment with which we are now familiar, that of annual exhibitions. These failed, however, to induce public support, with the result that in four years the experiment was brought to an inglorious end. America now took a turn, in order to commemorate tho 100 th anniversary of tho Declaration of Independence. The great Centennial Exhibition of 1876 at Philadelphia in many respects was far ahead of any of its predecessors, but the tale told was tho same. Actually _ 10,000,000 visitors attended, and the receipts worked out to over £800,000, yet the exhibition resulted in an enormous deficit. France now felt that it had been out of the field long enough, and that it could not submit to take second place to America. Accordingly a gigantic exhibition was organised in 1878, the records of which were far ahead of any other exhibition in every respect. Thus thero were more than 16,000,000 visitors, or an average of over 82,000 for each day the doors were open. The most amazing record, however, was that of the financial loss, which was of a truly paralysing character, tho deficit totalling to £1.240,000. Ono Mould have thought that a disastrous result, of this kind would have been quite sufficient to put an end to all further efforts in Paris, yet. in 1889 the City of Light opened a world's show which outclassed everything of tho kind as regards magnificences and vastness, covering an area of 173 acres. There wore no fewer than 25,000,000 visitors, notwithstanding which the profit realised amounted to but £320,000. America, however, was not to be left, behind, and the World's Fair at Chicago in 1£93 was in advance of the Paris Exhibition, and attracted somewhere about the same number of visitors. Paris then organised its magnificent exhibition of 1900. which was followed a year later by tho one at. Glasgow, which asitin gave place to the one at St. Louis in 1904. KECEXT EXrERIEXCKS. Undoubtedly the most successful .and tho biggest, of all great exhibitions was the Franco-British Exhibition of 1908, being tho largest, and most, complete ever held, as well as the most successful of the long series which had preceded it. That exhibition brought many millions of pounds to our shores, there being a constant succession of visitors from all parts of the world; never in our history had there been so many foreigners drawn to these isles. It would be wrong to assume, however, that, a financial deficit at an exhibition itself means loss to the country, as, such exhibitions' invariably attract: a considerable number of visitors from other places. Tourist agencies, and a vast number of tradespeople, hotel proprietors, amusement caterers, etc., reap a rich harvest from the visitors, who, naturally, snen'd freely, There is no doubt that thousands of people have been drawn to Belgium this year who would not have visited that country had it, not been for tho exhibition, and all this has to be set down against, the loss caused by tho disastrous fire. Notwithstanding, the loss is bound to bo heavy from the fact that, the exhibition was at the height of its popu—Leeds Mercury.