§ LORD JOHN MANNERSsaid, he wish-ed to know whether the designs for the new Foreign Office promised by Mr. G. G. Scott were not yet ready for exhibition?
MR. FITZROYsaid, that when questioned the other day with respect to exhibiting the plans for this structure, according to the intention announced by the noble Lord, his official predecessor, he had stated that the working drawings would not be ready for some time, and, therefore, that he would not be able to exhibit them in the manner proposed. He had, indeed, given orders that, as far as they were in his possession, they should that morning be shown in the Reading Room of that House; but the designs now exhibited were only those which the House of Commons had had an opportunity of viewing on a former occasion. The designs of Mr. Scott for the new Foreign Office, prepared in accordance with the directions of the First Commissioner of Works, and which were considerably different from the designs in the Reading Room, would, he hoped, be ready for inspection by the members of that House on Wednesday morning, and he had given directions that they should be placed in the tea-room. He had received a letter from Mr. Scott on the subject, in consequence on which he had fixed upon Wednesday.