§ SIR MORTON PETOsaid, he rose to ask the First Commissioner of Works, If he will permit the temporary Road across the Park from Bayswater Road to the Queen's Gate, Kensington, to remain open for six months after the close of the International Exhibition, to allow time for consideration of the best plan for the permanent Road; and if it is not desirable to incur the small expense which would be incident to the cleansing the façade of the Marble Arch at Cumberland Gate?
MR. COWPERin reply said, that on the occasion of the passing of the Vote for the temporary road it was distinctly stated that it was only to be continued while the Exhibition was open; and he did not feel justified in departing from that arrangement. But the experience they had acquired of the utility of the road must be very useful in any future consideration the House might bestow upon that subject. With respect to the Marble Arch, he had to state, that like other public monuments exposed to the atmosphere in London, it would require periodical cleansing. He had tried for that purpose the employment of water from a fire-engine, but without any decided success. He believed that before long it 983 would be necessary to cleanse the Marble Arch more thoroughly; and, indeed, he thought it ought to be subjected to that operation about once in every ten years.