MR. NEVILLE-GRENYILLEasked Mr. Chancellor of the Exchequer, Whether he anticipates Parliament being called upon to contribute towards the Philadelphia International Exhibition, the London Exhibitions of 1851 and 1862 having been successfully carried out at no cost to the Exchequer?
§ THE CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER,in reply, said, the hon. Member suggested in his Question a comparison between the International Exhibitions held in this country and those held in foreign countries. That comparison did not exactly hold good, because the Exhibitions held in this country were, in fact, supported by the fees received for admissions, and no expense was thrown upon the Government. The two great Exhibitions held in London were conducted by the support of guarantees on the part of private individuals, and the expenses were recouped, or nearly so, by the payment of fees at the door. With regard to the Exhibitions held in foreign countries no such means of providing against the expense existed, and it had been the practice for the respective Governments associated with those Exhibitions to provide the necessary sums to meet those expenses. In the case of the Paris Exhibition of 1855 a sum of £50,000 was voted by Parliament, and in that of 1867 the sum of £116,000. For the Vienna Exhibition of 1873 Parliament only provided £28,760; but this sum was supplemented by very munificent contributions on the part of Sir Anthony Rothschild, and the hon. Baronet the Member for Lisburn (Sir Richard Wallace), amounting to £14,000. A good deal had also been contributed in this way by other countries; Germany, for instance, giving £150,000 to the Vienna Exhibition; and, he believed, grants were about to be made by different countries to the Exhibition at Philadelphia. When the present Government came into office they found that a question of contributing to the proposed Philadelphia Exhibition had been entertained by their predecessors, but not decided upon. Looking at the practice on former occasions, the Government thought it would be only right that they should do the same with re- 1181 gard to the proposed Exhibition in the United States as had been done in other cases, and therefore a Vote would be submitted to the House for a contribution in support of the Philadelphia Exhibition. But Her Majesty's Government were of opinion that this was a sort of system of which it might be possible to have too much. They did not think it would be desirable without notice to put an end to it. They wished, however, to express their own opinion as to whether the present would not be a good opportunity for closing the era of contributions in support of the expenses of Exhibitions in foreign countries, and probably this would be the last occasion on which such a Vote would be submitted by the Government to the House.