it would be more pleasant for all of us: " As
regards its street-cabs, London is worse supplied
than many European cities (with the
exception of a few clean and well turned-out
Hansoms), and far worse than most of
the English provincial towns. There is no
necessity to vary the size and build of such
vehicles, as they exist here in only two types—
the 'Hansom' as an open-air, the 'four-
wheeler' as the close one. They might be produced
in great numbers by machinery; all the
parts might be duplicates one of another; the
wheels, axles, springs, bodies, seats, &c., might
be made of one size and gauge, to interchange;
the rapidity of manufacture, facility of repair,
and general economy of production, would appear
to be advantageous to all parties. Those
of the public who cannot afford to keep carriages
of their own, might be carried in vehicles that
should be, at least, clean, safe, and comfortable.
"With very little care in machinery, they (the
cabs) might be brought into use without that
very pungent smell of the stable which is probably
disagreeable to every one except the owner
and the genuine London cabman. For many
years the public omnibuses in Paris have been
made on this plan; the various parts are made
alike, and to interchange. The facility and
rapidity of repair in such cases is more advantageous
than may at first sight appear; seeing
that every day the vehicle remains under repair
is a loss to its owner, whose profit depends on
its being at work and earning money."

A tiny exhibition, just now occupying a
few paragraphs in the newspapers, has grown
out of the larger international displays. As
thus: At Paris, ten years ago, the English
coachmakers, thrown into each others' company
as exhibitors, came to know each other in ways
apart from mere rivalry in business; and they
formed a " Master Coach-builders' Benevolent
Association," which has done much good among
those who can't turn the wheel of fortune
exactly in the proper way. Then the workmen
took up the idea, and founded an " Operative
Coachmakers' Benevolent Institution." Then,
knowing that the arts of design have a good
deal to do with the beauty of a coach, the
masters and the higher grade of workmen gave
their support to a Coach-builders' Art Journal,
in which photographs as well as hand-drawings
are brought to the aid of the coach-designer.
It was at the last annual dinner (we must have
annual dinners in England) of the Operative
Coachmakers' Association, when employers and
employed were assembled at the same board,
that the question was mooted—" Shall we have
an exhibition?" The ornamental painters, and
grainers, and marblers, under the old designation
of painter-stainers, had set the example in
two or three successive years, by holding an
exhibition of their craft at Painter-Stainers'
Hall: and there seemed no reason why an analogous
attempt should not be made by the
coachmakers. There has been for two centuries
a "Worshipful Company of Coach and Harness-makers,"
with a hall in Noble-street, Cheapside;
but this is one of the old City companies
which have, now-a-days, very little to do with
the crafts to which they nominally belong. The
company did not start this exhibition, but it
agreed to lend its hall, and to give prizes to the
exhibitors; and the leading coachmakers offered
other prizes, and so did the Society of Arts: insomuch
that there seemed no reason to doubt
that the idea could be carried out.

And it has been carried out. On the first of
February in the present year the "Operative
Coachmakers' Industrial Exhibition" opened, for
the display of drawings, designs, plans, models,
and specimens of actual work in all the branches
of coach-making. Exhibitors were tempted to
do their best by prizes offered for heraldic and
ornamental chasing, electro- plated chasing,
working drawings for private and public vehicles,
stuffed and quilted carriage cushions, under carriages
for elliptic springs, pads and bridles,
carriage dash-irons, carriage lamps, coach door
handles, hard and soft-solder plating, panel
painting, heraldic painting, sham caning,
&c. This sham caning is so curious an affair,
that we may as well say in a few words what it
means. It is a manufacture of wood panels to
imitate interlaced basket-work. The invention
originated in France, where it was due to a retired
soldier of the First Empire, named Fert. He not
only made large quantities for the French coachbuilders,
but for some time exported a considerable
quantity to England. By improved processes
it is now made in England more accurately, and
in a greater variety of patterns, than in France.
It is much used to give a light appearance to
small carriages, principally for country use. It
forms a neat and durable substitute for the real
wicker-work formerly used, which became rapidly
deteriorated by mud and moisture.

The exhibition in Noble-street was exactly
what we might have expected it to be— an illustration
of the handicrafts concerned in the
building of a coach or other vehicle. There
was thus a unity of purpose about it, not possible
in the miscellaneous exhibitions springing
up all around us. The coach-body makers sent
models and drawings and specimens of all sorts
of carriages, especially landaus, which seemed
to be in high favour; and one of them sent a
model of a " hospital carriage, to be drawn by
hand, to go through any ordinary door, and to
stand in the hall of the hospital ready for use;"
while another specimen was " a hospital carriage
to be drawn by a horse, for longer journeys, or
for use in bad cases, to avoid jolting as much as
possible." The under-carriage makers showed
and told us all about axles, carriage springs,
pole and box, swingle-trees, &c. The coach
painters exhibited many specimens of panel
painting, sham cane-work, striping, and spoke
painting. One of them sent a panel which had
been cut out from a shelf or workshop door
where the painters had been wont to rub their
brushes alter using; when the surface was
lowered, levelled, and polished, the play of
colours and the intricacy of curls and waves was
extremely curious— onIy curious as yet, but
possibly suggestive to an ingenious workman of
something practically useful. The herald painters