§ MR. LOWEsaid, that, in answering a question put the other evening relative to the South Kensington Museum by the noble Lord the Member for Herefordshire (Lord W. Graham), he had quoted what he believed to be a paragraph from the Report of the Committee of last Session. Since then the noble Lord had put a notice on the paper that he would ask—
Whether he (Mr. Lowe) is aware that the paragraph which he quoted as from the Report of the Committee on the South Kensington Museum with respect to Captain Fowke's Plan was taken from the Draft Report drawn up by himself, which paragraph was considerably altered, ourtailed, and amended in the Report adopted by the Committee.It was only after seeing that notice he was made aware that he had committed an error, and that he bad read a paragraph from a Draft Report instead of from the Report adopted by the Committee. The paragraphs began in the same way, and he was thus led into the error, for which he would now beg to apologize. He would now read the paragraph which he intended to have read before. They were substantially to the same effect, the only difference being the omission by the Committee of some words laudatory of Captain Fowke's plan. The paragraph he meant to read was—Your Committee are by no means anxious to involve the revenue in large expenses for mere ornament. The Museum is yet in course of formation, and they think it unwise to commit the country to a heavy expense in anticipation of its wants. The Committee recommend that any plan which may be adopted for the buildings to be erected should be capable of being worked into a general plan which would at once fully occupy the ground, and be susceptible of a proper amount of decoration. Such a plan has been laid before the Committee by Captain Fowke.