§ MR. SPOONERbegged to put a question to the Vice President of the Board of Trade, as to the manner in which the sum of 150,000l. surplus from the Exhibition of 1851, and the sum of 175,000l., granted by Parliament for Kensington Gore National Gallery, had been invested or otherwise disposed of, and what interest they produce?
§ MR. WILSONrose and suggested that this was a question that ought to be addressed to the Treasury. With regard to the 150,000l. the surplus of the Exhibition fund, and the 150,000l. voted by the House at the end of 1852, making together 300,000l., that sum had been expended in the purchase of the property at Kensington, and the greater part of it had been paid. The part that was not paid remained due, because some difficulties experienced in the completion of the deeds had caused some delay. The portion that was not paid, was invested in Exchequer bills at the interest which such securities command in the market. With regard to 25,000l. voted last year for the purchase of a small piece of ground which ran like a wedge into the main property, the purchase was not completed, but it was in progress of being completed, and the report of the Royal Commission, in which the matter was explained, would be presented to Parliament very shortly.