§ MR. H. BARINGsaid, he would beg to ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether the Government proposes to take any steps for obtaining such portion of the Kensington Gore Estate as would suffice for the erection of Barracks for the Guards in lieu of the present quarters in Portman Street? He had giver, notice of his question before the discussion on the subject last evening, and now put it on account of the great anxiety which prevailed on the matter.
THE CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER; Sir, Her Majesty's Government have made inquiry into the subject to which the question of the hon. Gentleman relates. But we have found that the Royal Commissioners for the Exhibition of 1851 could not, without a violation of faith, enter into any arrangement of this kind. The land in question was purchased not from one, but from several proprietors; all those proprietors had other property which they still retain in the same district and immediately contiguous to it, and they made it a condition, when they sold portions of their land, that on those portions no building of a character which could deteriorate the value of the remainder should be erected. They required from the Commissioners very stringent regulations and conditions to that effect; but it was found impossible, or at least very difficult, to draw up such conditions; and the result was, that the proprietors of the land, taking into consideration the high character of the Commissioners and their connection with the Government, had offered to accept from them, instead of a formal document, a personal engament that no building should be erected upon that site except a building connected with the promotion of art and science. It was with this honourable engagement that the purchase was completed, and the hon. Gentleman will therefore see that it is not in the power of the Commissioners to en- 176 tertain any overture of the kind he has mentioned from Her Majesty's Government.