§ SUPPLY considered in Committee.
§ (In the Committee.)
§ (1.) £30,243, to complete the sum for Royal Palaces.
§ MR. W. WILLIAMSsaid, that while he was willing to vote on account of the Royal Palaces any amount that might be necessary for the comfort and dignity of Her Majesty, he was at a loss to understand why such large sums for repairs should be required from year to year.
§ MR. AUGUSTUS SMITHsaid, the Vote was not arranged quite as perspicuously as could be desired. For instance, they jumped from Windsor to Pimlico, and from that to Richmond or Hampton Court, and then back to Windsor again. It was also a question whether the large sums expended on furniture should not have come out of the Privy Purse. Some few years ago it was said that the savings in the Civil List amounted to several thousands a year, which were paid into the privy purse. If that was so, it was not fair to make those additional charges. He wanted to know why the ornamental gates which had been removed from Hampton Court to Kensington had not been restored to their place at Hampton Court?
§ SIR JOHN SHELLEYsaid, he believed that if they were to have furniture bought for the Royal Palaces without the check of the Commissioner of Works, the expenditure would be very much increased. He thought the check at present exercised was a good one.
§ MR. AUGUSTUS SMITHsaid, he did not object to the Vote on that score, but what he wanted to know was why the matter was put under two or three different heads?
§ SIR MORTON PETOsaid, that in reference to the Vote for St. James's Palace, he wished to direct the attention of the noble Lord at the head of the Government, and that of the right hon. Gentleman the President of the Board of Works, to the total inadequacy of that Palace at the present time for the reception for those of Her 205 Majesty's subjects who wished to pay then respects on state occasions. He was a strenuous advocate of economy on all fitting occasions, but he believed he was only expressing the opinion of the Committee when he said that the state of the building was a disgrace to the country, and he trusted that the proper authorities would take that subject into their immediate and earnest consideration.
MR. COWPERsaid, the hon. Member for Truro (Mr. Augustus Smith) complained of the system upon which the accounts were arranged; but it was methodical and intelligible. The division of the Palaces was under three heads:—those in the personal occupation of Her Majesty; those in partial occupation, such as St. James's; and those not occupied by Her Majesty. With regard to the furnishing of the first, the expense was provided by the Lord Chamberlain; but the expense for the furnishing of St. James's Palace, as far as related to the State rooms, came out of the Vote before the Committee; and that was the case also with respect to the Palaces under the third head. The ornamental railing which had been at Hampton Court was so damaged from long exposure to the weather that it must be protected from the open air. The managers of the South Kensington Museum thought it worthy of being restored at a considerable expense. It was a beautiful specimen of English iron workmanship, and was a great addition to the Industrial Museum; but it could not be again placed in the open air without injury.
§ Vote agreed to.
§
(2.) Motion made, and Question proposed,
That a sum, not exceeding £82,751, be granted to Her Majesty, to complete the sum necessary to defray the Charge which will come in course of payment during the year ending on the 31st day of March 1864, for the Maintenance and Repair of Public Buildings; for providing the necessary supply of Water for the same; for Rents of Houses for the temporary accommodation of Public Departments, and Charges attendant thereon.
§ MR. W. WILLIAMSsaid, there were items of £3,000, £4,000, and £3,100, or upwards of £10,000 altogether, for supply of water to both Houses of Parliament, to other public buildings, and to the fountains of Trafalgar Square. That was a very heavy charge for a thing which ought have been amply provided for many years ago. He also wished to know why the sum required for the house and furniture used by the officers who were engaged in preparing 206 the plans for fortifications, was included in that Vote, and why it was not made a portion of the charge for the fortifications themselves?
MR. COWPERsaid, that the War Department in Pall Mall was not large enough to afford accommodation for the staff engaged in drawing the fortification plans, and it had been necessary to hire a house for the purpose.
§ MR. CHILDERSsaid, he rose to call attention to the totally inadequate supervision exercised over the public works and buildings in which the Government were interested. If the present were an age of engineers, it was certainly rather extraordinary that Parliament should have so singularly neglected to make adequate provision for the supervision of their great public works and buildings. Considering the enormous start over all the world in public works which the country had taken a few years ago, it must be notorious to every one that they were rapidly losing ground in comparison with continental nations. He did not wish that they should servilely copy the arrangements of foreign nations, but something must speedily be done, for it was impossible to go on with the present insufficient arrangements, which in a few years hence would probably place them under the necessity of resorting to a change, perhaps, of a somewhat revolutionary character. He had nothing to say against the right hon. Gentleman (Mr. Cowper), who carried out the duties of his office in a manner that was fairly satisfactory to the House; but his very position was a sufficient indication of the unsatisfactory nature of their arrangements. He was a Minister with the fine sounding title of "First Commissioner of Works," but his energies were principally devoted to the supervision of the casual erection of one or two great works in the metropolis, to look after the public parks, and to see that the furniture of the public offices was properly purchased and properly accounted for. What might be called the general engineering superintendence of the public works was divided between two or three different Departments. Harbour works, for instance, were supervised partly by the Admiralty and partly by the Treasury; military works, even when called "civil buildings," by the War Department; and the Board of Trade had the supervision of the railway works, and in part of lighthouses. Other lighthouses were under special Commissions, 207 some of the larger departments looked after their own buildings; and, in fact, the functions of supervision were so confused and scattered among different Departments that it was impossible they could be efficiently and economically exercised. He hoped that before long some hon. Member of the House would take up the subject, and would enforce the necessity of a change. He had no wish servilely to copy the arrangements of their neighbours; but if the supervision of the civil buildings and harbour and other public works not strictly military works were concentrated under one Department, and if that Department were charged with the functions now exercised by five or six, great inconvenience and many blunders would be avoided.
§ VISCOUNT PALMERSTONThe proposal of my hon. Friend, I am afraid, would involve a more material change in our system of conducting great public works than is congenial to our constitutional arrangements. It is quite true that in France and other countries the Government exercises great control over all works, whether private or public, but that is not a proposition which would be in accordance with the feelings of this country, or with the general arrangements which prevail here. I do not admit what my hon. Friend starts with—that we are behind other countries in architectural development. If anybody will go to Liverpool, to Leeds, to Manchester, or to other great towns, he will see buildings of the most beautiful description, erected, not under the control of the Government, but by persons employed by the municipalities of the towns themselves. Those buildings are really an honour to the country and are quite equal in beauty to anything on the Continent. My hon. Friend, I am sure, cannot mean that a Department of the Government should supervise and direct the municipal corporations and the public buildings of the towns.
§ MR. CHILDERSI confined my remarks exclusively to the public buildings of the Government, and public works.
§ VISCOUNT PALMERSTONThere are very few public buildings connected with the Government, and those few are under the supervision of my right hon. Friend the First Commissioner of Works. It is quite clear that different public works require different supervision. You would not put the same man to supervise the erection of a barrack whom you would put to supervise a post office or a harbour. 208 There must be different kinds of supervision, and I do not believe, that if my hon. Friend looks carefully into the subject, he will find any arrangement different from that which now exists which would be compatible with our constitution.
§ MR. AUGUSTUS SMITHsaid, he thought there was a great want of consistency of plan in the public works, as well as of regularity in the way in which they were conducted. He objected to the first item in the Vote of £25,000 as "the sum that will be required for the maintenance and repair of public offices, and charges attendant thereon." Some explanation should be given of that. The last item in the Vote was £13,512 for Scotland, whereas last year's Estimate was only £10,890. That made it the more necessary that details should be given. The point, however, to which he wished specially to direct attention was that the country was called upon to pay rent when they occupied public property. That practice had only commenced within the last few years. It might be said that the rent came back to the public; but the important point was, that if public property was occupied by the Crown for its own personal accommodation, it paid no rent; but if for the public service, it did. The country was, in his opinion, as well entitled as the Crown to the use of that property rent-free. They might as well charge rent on the palaces or parks. A ground rent of upwards of £1,000 was paid on the Geological Museum in Jermyn Street. Again, a sum of money had been voted to purchase land for public offices, and it had actually been paid to the Woods and Forests. He should move the reduction of the Vote by the sum of £7,000, the amount charged for rent of Crown property.
§
Motion made, and Question proposed,
That a sum, not exceeding £75,751 be granted to Her Majesty, to complete the sum necessary to defray the Charge which will come in course of payment during the year ending on the 31st day of March 1864, for the Maintenance and Repair of Public Buildings; for providing the necessary supply of Water for the same; for Rents of Houses for the temporary accommodation of Public Departments, and Charges attendant thereon.
§ MR. BRISCOEsaid, he thought that proper details of the Votes should be given, otherwise comparisons could not fairly be made one year with another. Looking to some of the other items, he asked was it necessary to expend £4,000 on pipes and engines every year? With regard to the 209 miserable fountains in Trafalgar Square, he thought it would be much better to do away with them and fill the spaces with azaleas and other beautiful plants, than continue them as objects of public derision.
§ SIR MORTON PETOobserved, that the amount paid last year for the rent of public offices was £24,000; that year the Estimate was £26,358. That income represented little short of a million of money capitalized. He hoped the right hon. Gentleman would, during the recess, consult some architect who was competent to deal with the question, having special regard to the fact, that at present many of the public offices were so distant from each other that it was as much as any man, having occasion to go to several of them, could accomplish in the course of a morning.
MR. COWPERsaid, the apparent increase in the Vote of £3,259 over the Vote of the last year was owing to certain re-Votes which it was necessary to take of monies unexpended on the 31st of March last, and which had, according to rule, to be repaid into the Exchequer. Therefore, the Vote of the year did not really exceed that of last year. The sum for repairs in public offices and palaces was not given in detail, because it was made up of eighteen hundred separate items which would have greatly swelled the bulk of the printed Estimates. The same remark applied to some subsequent items for buildings in Scotland. He was surprised to hear complaint made of the sum for the supply of water to the Houses of Parliament and other public buildings, &c. The sum required for the ordinary supply was £4,000 a year—a less amount by £800 than that for which it could be obtained from the companies; besides which the water obtained from the artesian well behind the National Gallery was the most pure water in London. There was another item of £4,000 for engine, pumps, and pipes to provide a proper supply in case of fire, the means previously available for that purpose being deemed insufficient. That was in the nature of a first charge, not a recurring expense, and would be a very prudent and economical outlay, as the Government did not insure any of the public buildings. The great improvement that had recently been made in fire-engines, by the application of steam, rendered it unnecessary to have a reservoir of water at such a height as that of Primrose Hill, as had been suggested. Pipes would be laid down 210 which would bring the water from the Serpentine at any moment when it was required, and the steam engine would be of sufficient power to raise it to the level of the tanks on the top of the Houses of Parliament, the New Foreign Office, the India Office, and the other public buildings in that vicinity. The Motion of the hon. Member for Truro, with a view to prevent any rent being paid by the Office of Works to the Office of Woods went in a wrong and retrograde direction. The separation by the Act of 1851 was intended to prevent the land revenue from being spent on objects which ought to be defrayed out of the Votes of Parliament. But the effect of the hon. Gentleman's proposal would be that the revenues from the hereditary lands of the Crown would be spent instead of the funds voted by Parliament, and a door would be opened for abuses which the present arrangement was intended to repress. If the ground rent of the Geological Museum were withheld, it would virtually be contributed by the Office of Woods, and confusion of accounts would arise from depriving the laud revenue of the rent it would otherwise receive from letting the property to private individuals, merely because it happened, for the time being, to be occupied for a public purpose. The Office of Woods received all the proceeds it could obtain from land beneficially used, as the trustee for the public. Its funds could not be applied to public buildings under the Office of Works in lieu of Votes of Parliament. The hon. Member asked whether it was not right that a public use should be made of some of these houses. There was no objection to that, but the accounts of the two Departments ought not to be intermingled. He hoped the hon. Gentleman would not go to a division.
§ LORD JOHN MANNERSsaid, the hon. Baronet the Member for Finsbury (Sir M. Peto) had raised an important question, but it was not altogether new to that House. When Lord Llanover was at the Office of Works, he broached a great scheme for purchasing a large tract of land in the immediate vicinity of the Houses of Parliament as a site for public offices, at an expense of considerably over a million sterling; but the House took fright at the magnitude of the proposal, and it was allowed quietly to drop. He was afraid, that although the execution of such a gigantic scheme might be wiser and more economical in the end than the existing 211 arrangement, the House would be again appalled at its proportions. The various Departments were, no doubt, in an unsatisfactory state; but it should be recollected that many of the offices were temporary in their nature, and it was hardly worth while to go to great expense in purchasing sites and erecting stately buildings upon them. He observed a small item for Burlington House. What did the Government propose to do with that building and the ground attached to it? The late Government had a scheme for devoting Burlington House to important public purposes; but when the Earl of Derby left office, that scheme was knocked on the head, and Burlington House still remained almost unoccupied. He wished to know whether any additional use was to be made of it.
§ MR. ALDERMAN SALOMONSsaid, he wished to ask for an explanation of the enormous item of £10,900 for rates and taxes on public buildings, or donations in lieu thereof, and insurance.
MR. COWPERreplied, that in cases of leases the Government were often bound to pay rates and taxes. They were not so bound by law in the case of Crown property, but they Were in the habit of giving donations in lieu of rates and taxes. He might mention that only a small portion of the £26,000 was spent for Government offices, properly so called, considerable sums being given for such houses as law offices and courts, museums, the National Portrait Gallery, and the Seamen's Registry. About £12,000 was the amount paid on account of offices which might be accommodated in a permanent building. He did not contemplate such an extravagant scheme as that to which the noble Lord opposite had alluded; but he hoped that in the course of a few years the sites which had been purchased for public offices would be covered. The site in Downing Street, for example, might probably have an office built upon it as soon as the Foreign Office was completed He was not prepared at present to make any statement with respect to Burlington House.
§ MR. W. WILLIAMSsaid, he would remind the right hon. Gentleman that he had not explained the necessity for having three Copyhold Commissioners in a house rented at £900 a year.
MR. COWPERsaid, that more work had been thrown upon the Commissioners by several Acts of Parliament. The Commissioners had a great deal of business to 212 do, and the building they now occupied was not too large for them. It was necessary that they should be lodged somewhere.
§ LORD JOHN MANNERSthought it would have been more to the point if the hon. Member had asked the head of the Government why, when one of the Commissioners died some time ago, the vacant office was filled up.
§ MR. AUGUSTUS SMITHsaid, he would withdraw his Motion. He had made it as a protest in reference to the matter, which he denied was so much one of account as one of principle.
§ Motion, by leave, withdrawn.
§ Original Question put, and agreed to.
§
(3.) Motion made, and Question proposed,
That a sum, not exceeding £13,879, be granted to Her Majesty, to complete the sum necessary to defray the Charge which will come in course of payment during the year ending on the 31st day of March 1864, for the Supply and Repair of Furniture in the various Public Departments.
§ MR. AUGUSTUS SMITHsaid, he would move the reduction of the Vote by £6,464, the amount charged for the Science and Art Department. That sum was not really wanted for furniture, which formed the subject of a separate item, but for fittings. It was, in short, a sly way of getting a few thousand more under the head of furniture.
MR. COWPERsaid, the reason why the Vote was so large was that additions had been made to the museum at South Kensington, and money was required for glass cases and other fittings to fill the galleries and halls. He could assure the Committee that the items had been carefully examined, and that the fittings and furnishings in question were really necessary in order that the public might enjoy the full use of the Museum.
§ MR. AUGUSTUS SMITHsaid, his complaint was that a promise had been made that all unexpended balances should be paid into the Exchequer, and that there was a balance of £8,000 which remained unpaid.
MR. PEELsaid, that the promise was made with regard to the Votes, not of 1861–2, but of last year, and would be strictly adhered to.
§ MR. BLACKBURNsaid, he wished to point out, that in addition to the large Vote in the section of the Estimates under consideration, there was another sum of £6,600 in book 4, also for fixtures, fittings, 213 &c., for the South Kensington Museum. Surely that was spending too much on glass eases?
§ LORD JOHN MANNERSobserved, that although glass cases and other fittings did not require to be renewed annually, there was a Vote of £7,100 last year for the same purpose. The excessive amount of the Vote rendered it necessary for the Committee to look into it.
§ SIR JOHN SHELLEYsaid, he held that no expenditure afforded so much satisfaction and instruction to the public as that on the Kensington Museum. He went into the Committee on the Museum with a strong prejudice against it, but was convinced of its excellence and utility by the evidence he heard there.
§ MR. ALDERMAN SALOMONSsaid, he would suggest that the Vote should be withdrawn and brought up with the other item in book 4.
MR. COWPERexplained, that as the articles in question were ordered by the Office of Works, the Vote ought to be taken in the branch of the Estimates under consideration. The reason why the Estimate for fittings was so large that year was that the Museum had been considerably extended.
§ MR. BLACKBURNsaid, he wanted to know who ordered the £6,600 worth of fittings in book 4.
MR. COWPERsaid, the Science and Art Department ordered the amount to be expended under its own Estimate.
§ MR. AYRTONsaid, he wished to ask why the Vote for the Museum was divided between two Departments. There could be little doubt that it was done in order to conceal the magnitude of the expenditure. If the Museum at South Kensington were as beneficial as was alleged, it was to be remembered that it cost £34,000 a year, and was not situated where it would be within reach of the working-classes.
§
Motion made, and Question put,
That a sum, not exceeding £9,000, be granted to Her Majesty, to complete the sum necessary to defray the Charge which will come in course of payment during the year ending on the 31st day of March 1864, for the Supply and Repair of Furniture in the various Public Departments.
§ The Committee divided:—Ayes 23; Noes 66: Majority 43.
§ Original Question put, and agreed to.
§
(4) Motion made, and Question proposed,
That a sum, not exceeding £77,952, be granted to Her Majesty, to complete the sum necessary
214
to defray the Charge which will come in course of payment during the year ending on the 31st day of March 1864, for Maintaining and Keeping in Repair the Royal Parks, Pleasure Grounds, &c., and other Charges connected therewith.
§ SIR HARRY VERNEYsaid, he would acknowledge that great credit was due to the right hon. Gentleman the Commissioner of Works for the care he had bestowed upon the improvement of Victoria, Batter-sea, and other public parks; but he thought the Committee might call on the right hon. Gentleman to do something more for the accommodation of the public, The eastern extremity of Pall Mall, where it was joined by the Haymarket and Cockspur Street, was so crowded as to be quite dangerous, but by a small change the right hon. Gentleman might enable the public to drive down the Mall on the north side of St. James's Park. A great public convenience would be effected by opening a communication from Cockspur Street down the Mall to Buckingham Palace. He thought the right hon. Gentleman ought also to take into consideration the very dangerous state of the southern extremity of Park Lane. If all carriages passed through Grosvenor Gate to Hyde Park Corner, the dangerous part of Park Lane would be avoided. He did not know whether the Committee would be of his opinion, but he should be very glad to see omnibuses allowed to pass through Hyde Park. It would be a short cut for those who were going from Victoria to Paddington station, and would afford great pleasure to people who used that mode of conveyance. If not at present, he hoped that in some future year the accommodation which he had suggested would be afforded to the public.
§ MR. SELWYNsaid, he wished, in pursuance of the notice he had given, to call attention to the condition of the new Conservatory called the Winter Garden at Kew. No part of the public expenditure had given greater satisfaction than that which had been laid out on Kew Gardens, and he thought that Sir William Hooker was one of the most efficient, and at the same time one of the most economical, of public servants. The great desideratum of this new conservatory had been repeatedly referred to in all his Reports since 1859, and the plan had been approved of, and had become so notorious as to be published as the frontispiece of almanacs and in The Builder. The building was to be of five parts—a centre, two small octagons, and two wings connected by the octagons with the centre. The 215 centre and the two octagons were finished, and some expenditure must have been laid out on the wings, as the ground was dug out and foundations in concrete laid for the pillars. There were substantial buildings of brick and slate for the workmen, a cottage for the clerk of the works, and a temporary road, which greatly disfigured the most beautiful portion of the gardens. The Government had been informed by their able officer, Sir William Hooker, that it was absolutely essential to complete the structure, and not to leave it unfinished, presenting as it did an unsightly appearance, which did no credit to the architect. He thought that, Sir William might have added, "and would do no credit to the Board of Works or the British nation." He could not believe it possible, that having finished three-fifths, the Government intended to abandon the other two-fifths of the building; and although no sum was asked for in the Estimate for this year, he concluded that they intended to finish it at some future time, and he begged them to consider what an unthrifty course that would be. If the buildings for the workmen were taken down, and the temporary road destroyed, other buildings and another temporary road would have to be made when the works were resumed, and be believed, that no private gentleman who could command either means or credit would conduct his business in that way. Speaking as an ordinary observer, he also imagined that it must have been cheaper to cast the whole of the iron girders which were required for making the wings and the octagons and centre at the same time. He should therefore like to know what expenditure had been incurred for the purpose of the wings, and whether it was the intention of the Government to proceed to complete the whole building.
§ MR. TITEsaid, he could corroborate the statement of the hon. and learned Gentleman. The buildings at Kew were a great success, architecturally and scientifically. He agreed that the unfinished state of this building was unsightly, and would lead probably to a greater expense than if it were finished at once. Economy was, no doubt, a great object in the days; but he recommended the Government, when an opportunity offered, to complete the building. Another reason for immediate completion was, that it would allow of the classification of the plants, for the better study of botany.
§ COLONEL FRENCHsaid, that the Vote, which was an increase of £17,000 on the last year's Vote, appeared to him to be extravagant, and one which required explanation. Bushy Park, Greenwich Park, Hampton Court Park, and the Home Park were all in grass, and he could not comprehend the necessity of the expenditure under those heads. As on a former occasion, he wished to protest against the plan of grazing horses in Hampton Court Park, because of the injury to the lime trees, and he really thought the grazing of cows, which would do no injury to the trees, would return, within 6d. per head per week, the same as horses. The sum of £25,000 seemed a good deal for Hyde Park, and he did not know what was obtained from the £5,000 spent on Victoria Park.
§ MR. DILLWYNsaid, he fully agreed that the Vote, required explanation. The maintenance of St. James's, the Green, and Hyde Parks cost £23,624, besides the cost of the department of the ranger, bringing it up to £25,000. Kensington Gardens, which figured for £3,900, were not included, and how so much could be spent he could not understand. The Committee ought, he thought, to insist, on having some detailed explanation as to how the money was expended.
§ COLONEL BARTTELOTsaid, he should move the reduction of the Vote by the sum of £7,952. He was ready to give the First. Commissioner of Works every credit for keeping the parks in a good state, but he could not give him credit for economy, inasmuch as he thought he had got a most inefficient set of men employed about them, and that the outlay upon them was unnecessarily large. The expense of maintaining the West End Parks and Kensington Gardens amounted to £30,000 a year, and he had been informed that the sum expended on annual flowers was not less than £5,000, which, when their perishable nature was taken into account, was, in his opinion, a very wasteful expenditure.
§ MR. COXobserved, that parks to which the remarks of the preceding speakers applied, were really parks, which could hardly be said of the few acres of ground which were dignified by the name of Kennington Park, and for which the Committee was asked to vote £1,436. How any one could be found with sufficient ingenuity to lay out so large a sum on so small a plot of ground he was at a loss to understand. It was simply a park, he contended, for sheep, the children who were ad- 217 mitted to it not being allowed to amuse themselves on the grass, but being obliged to play on the gravel walks. He wished to know why there was no Return of the money received for depasturing sheep.
§ SIR JOHN PAKINGTONsaid, the Votes asked for the parks were to him annual causes of astonishment. Indeed, he could not understand how so much money could be spent on them. All private experience was opposed to the expenditure. A private gentleman, wishing to build a lodge, could accomplish his object for £300 or £400, while in Hyde Park it was deemed necessary to spend. £1,500 or £1,600 for a similar purpose. If private proprietors were to keep up their grounds at a cost equal to that which was asked for the Green, St. James's, and Hyde Parks, they would speedily be ruined. Those parks were, no doubt, well kept up, and contributed much to the enjoyment of the public; but then he thought it would be well if the First Commissioner of Works would show the Committee that the money laid out upon them was fairly expended.
§ MR. CAVEsaid, he desired to have some information with respect to the monolith which had astonished the town by suddenly appearing, where the spring formerly was, at the east end of the Serpentine. He should like to know whether it came from Egypt, was brought by the Under Secretary for Foreign Affairs from Assyria, or found its way from the Summer Palace at Pekin? It would be well, in short, if the First Commissioner of Works would tell the Committee what it was, where it came from, why it was put there, what was the cost of putting it there, and what had become of the spring which used to be there?
§ MR SCLATER-BOOTHsaid, he wished to ask for information as to the distinction between the Ranger's Department and the Department of the Board of Works. He wished also to learn by whose authority it was that the band of the Commissionaires played night after night during the whole season in the Cambridge inclosure, adjoining Spring Gardens, in St. James's Park. Although he lived in that neighbourhood himself, he had no objection to the performances; but he knew that the music was regarded as a serious inconvenience to many gentlemen residing close by. Thus to invite the inhabitants of St. Giles's and Westminster to be present throughout the summer in large crowds 218 to listen to the band was, he thought, a wanton interference with the rights of those who paid heavy rents for the houses near the inclosure, as there was ample space by the water in the park, where those performances might take place without being a nuisance to anybody.
§ MR. W. EWARTsaid, he would inquire whether it was necessary, now that there were no deer to take care of in the parks, to keep up the office of deputy ranger. There was a large piece of land attached to the ranger's lodge which ought to be thrown open to the public.
§ COLONEL SYKESsaid, he could bear testimony to the improvements that had been made in Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens during the last thirty years. At the same time, he would recommend, that the road over the bridge from Bayswater to Kensington should be opened to public as well as to private vehicles. There might be some question as to the expenditure upon the Parks, and he should therefore be glad to see the Vote postponed until fuller information was before the Committee.
§ MR. W. WILLIAMSsaid, he would call the attention of the Committee to the fact that the first four Votes in the Estimate exceeded by £55,000 the expenditure on those of last year.
§ LORD JOHN MANNERSsaid, he should be sorry if anything happened to postpone the erection of the great house in Kew Gardens. There could be no use in disguising the fact that the Parks were very expensive, but no comparison could fairly be instituted between the expenditure upon them and those of noblemen and gentlemen in the country, because the former were not only Parks but great gardens, and in some instances almost scientific gardens, intended for the amusement of the people, and the consequent necessity for opening up walks and providing a large staff added greatly to the expense. He should like to hear from the right hon. Gentleman the First Commissioner of Works some explanation of an item of £400 or £500 for making a horse ride in Battersea Park, and of the appearance in Regent's Park of a large permanent structure for the use of the band, which was out of all proportion to the objects which surrounded it and interfered with a very beautiful view.
MR. COWPERsaid, that he could not explain the excess of £55,000, which existed only in the imagination of the hon. Member for Lambeth, [Mr. W. WILLIAMS: 219 It is in the book.] The hon. Member did not appear to have read the Estimates with the care which he should have expected from so eminent a financial reformer. If he compared the two Estimates, he would find that the Vote under discussion was £732 less than that of the last year.
§ MR. W. WILLIAMSexplained, that what he said was, that the expenditure last year was £55,000 less than the Votes asked for this year.
MR. COWPERsaid, that if the hon. Gentleman complained that the sum expended was less than the amount voted, that was a fault of which his Department was very often guilty. They had, for many years, been gradually diminishing the expenditure, without at the same time diminishing—indeed, on the contrary, while increasing, the attractions of the Parks. With respect to the expenditure contemplated during the ensuing year, he should be glad to give the fullest and most detailed explanations. It was impossible to compare the cost of the Parks with that of those belonging to private individuals, because they were the resorts of enormous numbers of persons, who necessarily occasioned a great deal of damage by trampling on the grass and wearing away the walks, and whose presence required the employment of a considerable number of officers to insure the preservation of order. In Hyde, Green, and St. James's Parks alone forty-six constables were employed. The salaries of the persons employed amounted to £2,608, and their liveries cost £371. £1,100 was contributed to parochial assessments; the maintenance of lodges, railings, drainage, seats, &c., cost £1,781. It must be remembered that not merely were there trees, grass, and shrubs to be maintained in the parks, but roads as well. In Hyde Park, St. James's Park, and the Green Park, collectively, there were eight miles of roads to be kept in order, and twenty-five miles of gravel walk, making in the aggregate thirty-three miles. Portions of Hyde Park were as much frequented by vehicles as the street, and required to be kept in as good order. The cost of macadamization in Regent Street was at the rate of £4,000 a mile. He did not estimate the surface in the Park as equally expensive, but it was evident that a large outlay was requisite to maintain it in proper condition. If the gravel walks were not kept in proper order, the public complained; and they did worse, 220 for they walked on the grass, turning the sheet of verdure into an and plain.
The offices of Ranger and Deputy Ranger had originated when deer were kept in the parks, and, according to ancient custom, the gates of the external boundaries of the park were considered to be under the Ranger's authority, while the interior was under the control of the Office of Works. The salaries and wages of the fourteen gatekeepers, and of the superintendent in the Ranger's department, amounted to £1,320, and the cost of their liveries £97. All things considered, hon. Members, he thought, would be of opinion that the outlay upon the parks was not excessive. Every attention to economy, he could assure them, was paid. Labourers were employed in considerable numbers at the proper season; but as soon as these could be dispensed with, the staff was diminished. It was a mistake to suppose that the flowers in the Parks were costly; they were of a simple and cheap kind, and were reared in pits in the vicinity. The expense for flowers last year in Battersea Park only amounted to £180.
The horse ride at Battersea Park would be on the embankment, which was being gradually and inexpensively formed by allowing builders and others to deposit rubbish. Ultimately, he hoped that a ride might be formed round the whole outer circle of the Park. Until the ground was taken for building, the waste land there could not be applied to a better purpose.
The Sunday bands had been in operation for seven years; he had permitted their continuance because they drew people out of unhealthy homes and public-houses to enjoy the Parks, and did not justify the complaints of residents in the neighbourhood. The band platform in Regent's Park, provided nearly seven years ago, was almost worn out, having been very unfit for the purpose from the beginning. He had therefore thought it right to provide a new one, and to include the cost in the Estimates. The band thought it a practical improvement, and the audience liked it exceedingly.
The house at Kew, to which reference had been made, was originally designed in five parts, the centre and octagons being complete in themselves without the wings. £33,000 had already been spent upon the building, besides £3,000 upon the warming apparatus. The cost of the wings would be £14,000 additional, which was 221 more than the Government felt warranted in proposing under existing circumstances.
He was unable to say where the spring which used to exist near the Serpentine was gone, but it disappeared at the time when the Metropolitan Board of Works were carrying the great sewer across the park. It was in reality not a spring, but a collection of water which percolated through the gravel, and when that was disturbed it took a different direction. The granite which now formed the drinking fountain had been selected as the material which did not suffer from the London atmosphere. A small work of art fitted for a garden would not have been as suitable to the place as a huge uncut boulder from Cornwall. It excited comments from hon. Gentlemen opposite, but it had elicited the admiration of persons competent to judge. With the addition of the surrounding poplars, it was a very agreeable and picturesque object. [Mr. AUGUSTUS SMITH said, the right hon. Gentleman had not mentioned the cost.] It had cost about £180. Kennington Park, although of limited area, was greatly frequented, owing to its position. Special orders were given that the grass was to be enjoyed as freely as was consistent with its preservation. The actual cost of maintenance was £890. He must remind the Committee that there, as in other parks, the cost of watering was very considerable; that operation having to be repeated every day during the summer months.
He had been rather surprised to hear the complaint of the hon. Gentleman opposite (Mr. Sclater-Booth), who found fault with what gave intense delight and satisfaction to multitudes every evening. He was dissatisfied because a number of people assembled in St. James's Park to hear a remarkably good band play gratuitously. It was true that some small payment was exacted from those who entered the inclosure, but the great majority of the audience paid nothing whatever. Some of the residents in the neighbourhood approved of these musical performances; and if any wished to give up their houses on that account, others were ready to take them. It was useless, however, to argue the question, which was altogether one of taste; some persons loved music and others did not.
§ MR. PEACOCKEobserved, that the grass on the south side of Rotten Row was useless to riders, because there was no shade, there. In the interest of the equestrians, 222 therefore, he would ask the right hon. Gentleman to throw open the ground covered with grass on the north side, where there was a shade? He also wished to ask the right hon. Gentleman whether he would open Kensington Gardens to riders.
§ MR. BENTINCKsaid, there was nowhere in England so remarkable a farce as that which was regularly enacted by Committees of Supply in that House. [Mr. W. WILLIAMS: Hear, hear!]. They had upon the Treasury bench a government pledged to rigid economy, and they had on his side of the House very distinguished Members anxious to pass to the other side, pledged to a still more stringent system of economy. The result was that Votes were proposed; two or throe hon. Members made speeches, in very nearly the same words every year; the Votes passed, and thus ended the absurd farce. But he rose on that occasion to protest against the First Commissioner of Public Works in coming thither at a time of great public trial and adversity, when they were at their wit's end to devise some measure of relief for thousands of their countrymen who were actually starving, and asking the House of Commons to vote large sums of money for the ornament and luxury of the idlers and indolent of the metropolis. When the right hon. Gentleman spoke of the ornamentation of the parks, it was time to call his attention to the enormous distress which prevailed throughout the country, and to ask, whether the proposed expenditure was decent or becoming? Though the leading Members on both sides of the House were pledged to such a course, he would protest against it, and hoped the time would come when the House of Commons would no longer throw away the resources of the country when greater demands were made upon them.
§ MR. SCLATER-BOOTHsaid, he thought that the arrangements for the band in Regent's Park were very satisfactory, and from personal observation he could bear testimony to the fact that the crowds who listened to the music seemed to be of the same opinion. He was not able to say the same thing with respect to the arrangements made in St. James's Park for the band of the Commissionaires. It was no small annoyance for the residents near where the band was stationed to have music for three hours every night during the whole of the London season. If the band stationed itself at a similar distance from the houses in an opposite direction, 223 the residents could have it removed as a nuisance; and they had reason to complain that the protection of the Government and of the police was given to the band at the place where it was; stationed. He had no objection to money being raised for the corps by means of musical performances; but those might take place in a part of the park where they would cause no annoyance to any one.
§ SIR MATTHEW RIDLEYsaid, that the band of the Commissionaires, which performed every day in St. James's Park, was an exceedingly bad band and a great nuisance, and he hoped they were not paid out of the public money.
§ MR. W. WILLIAMSsaid, that in the Vote for Royal Palaces there was an increase of £11,660; in the Vote for public buildings an increase of £28,241; in that for furniture of public offices an increase of £4,268; and in that for Royal parks and pleasure gardens an increase of £11,288, making a total increase of about £55,000. The right hon. Gentleman had given no satisfactory explanation on that point.
§ LORD JOHN MANNERSsaid, he wished to remind the right hon. Gentleman that his objection was to the extremely unsightly character of the stand which had been put up in Regent's Park. It was placed in a position that excluded a view of the trees.
§ COLONEL FRENCHobserved, that his right hon. Friend the Chief Commissioner had not answered his observations with reference to the Royal parks.
CAPTAIN KNOXsaid, that the poor of the metropolis had but few pleasures, and it conduced much to their health to be drawn from the miserable streets in which they lived into the parks, and the bands administered to their pleasure. He trusted the Government would stand by the Vote
§ COLONEL FRENCHsaid, he wished to call attention to the injury that was being done to the trees in Bushy Park by horses being sent in there to feed. If properly managed, he knew of no reason why that Park should cost the nation anything.
§ MR. LIDDELLsaid, he had nothing to say against the expenditure on the public parks, and thought that the right hon. Gentleman deserved the highest credit for the improvement he had effected in Regent's Park. He never saw a park so much improved in so short a space of time. At the same time, he wished to draw his attention to the disgusting and unsightly 224 mound in St. James's Park. When passing through St. James's Park not long ago on a hot day, he observed a body of labourers turning a heap of something over. On approaching to investigate the work, a most offensive effluvium arose from it, and the labourers told him they were turning over the manure-heap of the First Commissioner of Works. If the right hon. Gentleman had a manure-heap placed at his disposal, why did he not deposit it where it would not offend the eyes and noses of the inhabitants of the metropolis. He hoped an early opportunity would be taken to remove it.
§ SIR MATTHEW RIDLEYsaid, that an elevation had been noticed in Hyde Park, which turned out to be a boy and a dolphin. He did not observe that any money had been appropriated in the Votes for that work which must have cost a considerable sum, and was, as many thought, a very objectionable object.
MR. COWPERsaid, that the Vote for that work of art was obtained three years ago. A drinking fountain in the park was allowed to require ornamental sculpture, and he should have thought that the subject of a boy and a dolphin was unobjectionable. The group was the work of an eminent sculptor, Mr. Munro, and was very much admired. With respect to the inquiry of his hon. Friend, the breeding of horses at Hampton Court was not in his department; but he would inquire about the lime-trees, any injury to which he should greatly regret. The mound alluded to by the hon. Member (Mr. Liddell), consisted of the sweepings of the roads and out of the lake in St. James's Park, which had been accumulated in what was thought a quiet corner, but which, it appeared, had not escaped the observation of the hon. Gentleman. He believed that it had been offensive to the smell, but it would be laid upon the grass in a manner as little offensive as possible. The grass was so injured by the soot, and by persons walking and rolling upon it, that it was necessary to put something on it.
§ MR. PEACOCKEsaid, that the right hon. Gentleman had not answered his question. If it were good to open Kensington Gardens during the last year to riders, it must be desirable to do the same this year.
MR. COWPERsaid, that for two years the ride in Kensington Gardens had been open to the public, and had answered very well. Last year the entrance which used to be through the land arch of the bridge 225 between Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens was required for pedestrians, because the road itself was open to carriages for the Exhibition. There was also the same difficulty this year, because the bridge had been opened to carriages, and it was necessary for the convenience of pedestrians to admit them under the bridge. He had opened to equestrians the south side of Rotten Row. At the end of last year the north side was opened, but the riders had interfered with the persons on foot, and by no means showed the consideration which could have been desired for their comfort. He was anxious to place the horses where they interfered the least with the comfort and recreation of the pedestrians, and had therefore admitted the riders to the south side of Rotten Row. He did not remember the cost of the boy and dolphin, but would let the hon. Baronet know another day. The money was voted more than three years ago, and he had not the document by him.
§ LORD ROBERT CECILsaid, that hon. Members seemed to be a Committee to take care of Rotten Row, rather than a body assembled to take care of the finances of the country. There was a disgraceful column in the Estimate under consideration. He referred to that which showed an increase in every item of the Votes, so that the sum had swollen from £700,000 to £900,000. He agreed with his hon. Friend the Member for Norfolk in thinking that hon. Members would not rise in the opinion of their constituents by permitting an increase of £200,000 in that Estimate, in a year in which Ireland was starving and Lancashire was supported by public alms. It appeared as if the function of restraining the Government in its expenditure had wholly passed from the House of Commons, and as if their sole object was to procure this or that concession to gratify some hon. Member or his friends. They would not be doing their duty at a time of so much pressure, when there was greater pressure ahead, and the prospects of the country were darkening, if they allowed the Government to take so large an increase without some protest. He should like to divide the House if he could be assured of any reasonable amount of support against this increase of expenditure on the bricks and mortar of the Board of Works.
§ VISCOUNT PALMERSTONThe noble Lord and the hon. Member for West Norfolk (Mr. Bentinck) complain that the functions of Committee of Supply 226 are a farce, and that no efficient control can be exercised over the Government. Why, Sir, the real fact is—and this is what makes some hon. Gentlemen so angry—that the Government themselves exercise a most vigilant control over the expenditure with regard to which they present Estimates; that these Estimates are most carefully framed, so that the money may be laid out in the most economical way possible; and that thus, when objections are made, such satisfactory answers are given that Gentlemen cannot carry a point which is shown to be against reason and good sense. Hon. Gentlemen talk about the enormous expenditure lavished upon the parks. Well, they cost about £90,000 a year, for which a great number of parks are maintained, and great enjoyment is derived by the millions of this metropolis. I must say that I think it would be a paltry economy to deprive the humbler classes in London of a legitimate enjoyment, merely for the purpose of making a small reduction in this Vote. We have been told to look at what is done in foreign countries, and especially in France. Now, do hon. Gentlemen know at all what is the expense of the single great park near Paris—the Bois de Boulogne? I am not talking of the expenditure in creating it, and a wonderful creation it is, and infinite honour it does to the author of so great a transformation in the face of nature. But I have been told on good authority, and I believe it to be the fact, that the maintenance of the Bois de Boulogne costs £140 a day—£50,000 a year, and it consists of the same sort of outlay as is necessary with us, such as watering the grass, keeping persons to look after those who frequent the park, maintaining seats, rearing flowers, and so on. Though the sum which our parks cost is indeed a large one, I think the enjoyment which the people of the metropolis, and those who come here from all parts of England, Ireland, and Scotland, derive from it, is amply equivalent to the expenditure. We are not to suppose that London is surrounded by a wall of brass and that no communication goes on with other parts of the country; on the contrary, as we know, a continual succession of visitors conies here from the country, and shares this enjoyment; and remembering that this expenditure is not so large as in other countries, I really hope that the Committee will not listen to any proposal for curtailing the Vote.
§ MR. BENTINCKsaid, that the noble Lord had shown his usual ability, but not his usual candour, in defending the Vote. He had argued that it was impossible to pick a hole in the details, because the Estimates were framed with such care by the Government. But, if that was so, why did the Estimates go on increasing year after year? If things were well managed, there ought to be a decrease, and not an increase in the expenditure. Then the noble Lord talked of the enjoyment afforded by the parks to the millions of the metropolis. That might be true, but where did the money come from? Out of the Imperial Exchequer, so that the whole country paid for the enjoyment of the metropolis. Upon what principle of justice could that be defended. Local enjoyments ought to be paid for out of local taxation, and the charges for the metropolitan parks ought to be borne by the metropolis.
§ VISCOUNT PALMERSTONsaid, the hon. Gentleman was quite mistaken in supposing the metropolitan improvements were carried on at the charge of the nation at large. The Metropolitan Board of Works were doing great things by means of rates levied upon the metropolis itself. The coal tax was applied for these objects; and if the Committee bore in mind the large sums which were raised here for improvements, they would see that London bore its full share of charge for local improvements, as compared with other parts of the country.
§
Motion made, and Question put,
That a sum, not exceeding £70,000, be granted to Her Majesty, to complete the sum necessary to defray the Charge which will come in course of payment during the year ending on the 81st day of March 1864, for Maintaining and Keeping in Repair the Royal Parks, Pleasure Grounds, &c., and other Charges connected therewith.
§ The Committee divided:—Ayes 67; Noes 115: Majority 48.
§ Original Question put, and agreed to.
§
(5.) Motion made, and Question proposed,
That a sum, not exceeding £36,444, be granted to Her Majesty, to complete the sum necessary to defray the Charge which will come in course of payment during the year ending on the 31st day of March 1864, for Works and Expenses at the New Houses of Parliament.
§ LORD JOHN MANNERSsaid, he wished to ask what was the meaning of the first item of £4,570 for the completion of the unfinished portions of the building.
MR. COWPERsaid, that it was a re-Vote, including monies that should have been paid last year for the Victoria Tower and the Royal Gallery.
§ LORD JOHN MANNERSsaid, he also wished to know what was to be done to that part of the Clock Tower not yet completed.
MR. COWPERsaid, that soon after he came into office Sir Charles Barry pressed upon him the desirableness of carrying out his plan for enclosing New Palace Yard. He, however, thought it right to defer any decision on the subject until the southern side of Bridge Street had been pulled down. That would be done at the end of this year or in the course of the next year, and then they would have to come to a determination whether they should build a wing from the Clock Tower to Great George Street, which might be employed as public offices, or whether Palace Yard should be left on two sides open. At present, it was an open question, and nothing would be done in the present year to decide it.
MAJOR KNOXdesired to ask whether anything could be done with reference to the widening of Parliament Street.
§ COLONEL FRENCHsaid, he wished to know whether any decision had been come to with respect to the refreshment-rooms in the House. Those rooms were dark, narrow, and so contracted in the middle as to be something like the shape of an hourglass. So inconvenient was their shape that the waiters could scarcely pass, and great confusion arose. It was unfair to throw the blame on the manager, for it was impossible for any one to properly discharge his duty under the circumstances, Mr. Barry's estimate of last year for the necessary alterations was so high that the right hon. Gentleman did not think proper to make any proposition to the House on his own responsibility. This year, however, the Committee had made a Report on the subject, suggesting certain alterations; and if the right hon. Gentleman did not feel prepared to make any recommendation, to the House for carrying them into effect, they would bring the matter before the House themselves.
§ MR. HUNTsaid, he wished to ask whether the right hon. Gentleman had considered the possibility of constructing an underground passage from the Clock Tower 229 to the north end of Parliament Street, in order to avoid the awkward and crowded crossing at Bridge Street.
§ SIR JOHN SHELLEYsaid, that having spent a large sum of money in the erection of the building in which they were assembled it ought to be their first care to preserve it. He had, however, recently examined the whole of the exterior of the House, and he found that the decay was general, and unless something was speedily done the ornamentations of that House would disappear. Various processes had been tried to preserve the stone-work, and notably that of an Hungarian, a protégé of Sir Charles Barry's; but the portion operated upon by him was found to be in as bad a condition as any other part. There was one preparation—that of Mr. Daines—which did appear to answer, and which was spoken of by Mr. Sidney Smirke and Mr. Gilbert Scott in very favourable terms. After such a report as that, it was scarcely fair that the gentleman should have been treated as he had been; for while he had expended some £600 out of his own pocket, he had received only about £90 back; whereas the Hungarian had received large sums. He (Sir John Shelley) understood that when that gentleman proposed that his process, which had been highly approved, should be tried upon portions of the building to which it had not been previously applied, the right hon. Gentleman told him he might do so at his own expense. That was hardly fair. The right hon. Gentleman ought to be able to give some good reasons for not employing one who had been so successful.
§ MR. ROGERSsaid, he would call the right hon. Gentleman's attention to the necessity of improving the ventilation of the dining-rooms, and that part of the House adjoining them.
§ MR. REPTONsaid, he hoped the right hon. Gentleman would try whether some improvement in the approach to the House above ground could not be made. It was very difficult to get to the House at present, and one policeman could do little in keeping order where about forty or fifty carriages, carts, and horses were collected at the same time.
§ MR. SCLATER-BOOTHsaid, there was a large item on the Votes for the erection of stables for the Speaker. He wished to ask where it was proposed to erect those stables and whether the £6,530 was to cover the whole expense.
§ SIR MATTHEW RIDLEYwished to 230 ask with regard to the twelve statues to be placed in the Royal Gallery, whether their execution was to be intrusted to a few individuals; and if so, whether it would not be desirable that the Committee should have an opportunity of knowing whether the selection had been judiciously made? He also wished to know whether the statues were to be executed from models in the gross, or whether a guess was to be made at them from models in the small?
§ MR. GREGORYsaid, there were a few matters connected with the Vote to which he wished to call attention. In the first place, he wanted to ask for information with respect to the decorations in the Queen's Robing Room. Some time since, two gentlemen of very high reputation, both members of the Royal Academy—Mr. Dyce and Mr. Herbert—were employed to decorate the Queen's and also the Peers' Robing Rooms. There had been very considerable delay; those gentlemen had been paid considerable sums, and he was sorry to say the work was not executed. With regard to Mr. Herbert he wished to make every allowance. He believed Mr. Herbert had been doing his best—he had been slow, but he was thoroughly conscientious in his endeavours to produce a work worthy of the place. But with regard to Mr. Dyce the matter was totally different. Mr. Dyce had been paid the whole amount he was to receive for the execution of his work, and year after year had passed and yet the work had not advanced. In the last Report of the Commission, dated 1861, Mr. Dyce was alluded to in the following terms:—
The stipulated remuneration for the entire series having been long since received by him, we have only to express our earnest hope that he will see the importance of prosecuting the work with greater assiduity.He wanted to know whether any representations had been made to Mr. Dyce, with a view to ensuring his carrying out the engagements for which he had been paid? All he should say, if Mr. Dyce was not disposed to fulfil his engagement, he should characterize his conduct as scandalous—and he paused upon the word "scandalous" that there might be no doubt as to what he meant. There was another point. There were to be twelve statues, and the less said of them the better. He understood that six had been sanctioned by the House, of which four were George IV., William IV., James I., and Charles 1.; and no doubt, in the opinion 231 of some persons, the ornamentation of the House would be greatly improved by their appearance. Two more were to be produced, Charles II. and George III.; and as the Royal Commission on the Fine Arts had come to an end, he presumed the right hon. Gentleman would have the selection of the other works. The Commission had been expressly instituted for the encouragement and promotion of art throughout the country, but there had as yet been Very extraordinary favoritism in the selection of the artists. Out of the whole twelve statues five had been intrusted to Mr. Munro and four to Mr. Thornycroft, and two to Mr. Woolmer and Mr. Munro jointly. He wished to know if such a mode of proceeding was the best way to encourage and promote art throughout the country?
§ COLONEL SYKESanimadverted on the sum charged for taking up the mats and sweeping away the dust of the House. He thought £1,100 was too large a sum for such a service.
MR. COWPERsaid, he quite agreed that it was very desirable to adopt an effectual mode of preserving the stone of the Houses of Parliament. The matter had been referred to a very scientific and able Commission, but their Report had not justified him in adopting any one of the processes which had been suggested. Mr. Daines's process had not been recommended. It consisted in the use of a perishable material, being a combination of oil and sulphuric acid, and was not of a permanent character. It had not yet had that amount of trial which would justify his proposing a Tote for its application. The same course had been taken in regard to it as to the other processes; the inventor was allowed to make experiments on the walls of the building at his own cost. No doubt M. Szerelmy had been paid; but that was on a different ground, because his plan had the recommendation of Professor Faraday and Sir Roderick Murchison. He agreed with his hon. and gallant Friend that the Report of the Select Committee on refreshments was deserving of great attention. They spoke in the Report of the bad ventilation of the dining-room, and the plan mentioned by them was an effectual way of meeting the desired object; but he thought it wiser to give a little further consideration to the subject. With regard to a tunnel under Bridge Street, he thought it would no doubt be very convenient for persons going from the Houses 232 of Parliament along the banks of the river, but it could only be made in connection with the embankment. The Vote for the Speaker's stables was merely a re-Vote of the sum taken in 1860–1. There had been great delay in finding any site for a stable in the immediate neighbourhood of the Speaker's house, and, after two years spent in negotiations, they had to abandon the prospect in despair. The site now fixed on was at the end of Millbank Street—a very healthy spot, the only objection to it being its distance from the Speaker's house, and that objection it was proposed to diminish by a telegraphic wire, the expense of which was included in the Estimate. He had had some communication with Mr. Dyce with regard to the painting in the Queen's room, and he was assured that Mr. Dyce was going on with his work as rapidly as he could. The period of the year during which the artist could advantageously paint the walls of that apartment was limited, but it was more important to have excellence than rapidity in the completion of the work—a very noble and admirable work it no doubt would be when finished, with all the skill and masterly talent of Mr. Dyce. He hoped the delay would not be repeated in future years. The Tote for statues was not for new statues, but for the completion of the six already ordered. The year before last a Tote was taken for four statues, which were intrusted to Mr. Theed and Mr. Thornycroft. Only one instalment had been voted for two statues intrusted to Mr. Woolmer and Mr. Munro. The Fine Arts Commission having finished their labours, the responsibility of selection would now rest with the Government. The series of statues was an historical one, and the selection depended on the positions to be occupied, not on the characters of the Sovereigns. The Tote was only to complete the statues already ordered, and would not be applied to any new works.
§ MR. TITEsaid, he had had the honour of being a Member of the Committee which had been referred to in connection with the decay of the stone of which the Houses of Parliament were constructed; and though it was composed of some of the most eminent chemists, engineers, and geologists, he was sorry to say that the Committee could not come to any satisfactory conclusion on the subject. Mr. Daines's process had been brought under their consideration, and the eminent chemists who acted on the Committee found that it - 233 amounted to covering the stone with boiled oil with a small quantity of sulphur in it. He did not think it would be expedient to make any large outlay of public money on such an operation. He hoped, however, that some effectual means would be discovered for arresting the decay, which did not extend beyond a certain height from the ground. The Committee recommended that any one should be invited to experiment upon the decayed portions, a plan which he believed was being acted upon. He might further observe that the ventilation of the House was still imperfect, both the upcast shafts constantly throwing out a black sooty gas, and he hoped that some remedy would be found for that defect also.
§ MR. CONINGHAMsaid, he trusted that the right hon. Gentleman would stop all further expenditure under that head. The application suggested for preserving the stone of which these Houses were built was merely the specific employed abroad for curing the mange in dogs. If the style of art which they had seen develop itself on the walls and in the passages of that edifice was what they might anticipate in the future, the sooner the proposed expenditure upon it also was stopped the better.
§ LORD ROBERT CECILsaid, he had no objection to "Moses bringing down the tables of the Law to the Israelites," or to the statue of George IV., the two congenial subjects proposed for artistic illustration by the Votes of that evening; but as the right hon. Gentleman had already obtained the money for executing them, he could not understand why he should come to them for it over again; £6,000 had been already voted for Moses, and £4,800 for George IV., and on the former £3,500, remained unexpended, and £3,200 on the latter. Yet they were now asked for another £1,600 for the one, and another £1,300 for the other. If the right hon. Gentleman and his predecessors had not paid Mr. Dyce in advance, there was little doubt that his work would have been finished before then.
§ SIR JOHN SHELLEYsaid, he did not think it fair to Mr. Daines to require him to put up scaffolding at a large expense in order to test a process which had already been shown to be of some good. He hoped the destruction of the stone would no longer be allowed to go on without some remedy being applied, if even it were only of a temporary character.
MR. COWPERsaid, the noble Lord was 234 not, perhaps aware that on the 31st of March last there came into operation a new rule, by which all unexpended monies then in the hands the Government had to be repaid into the Exchequer. Consequently the Votes asked were for amounts which had been previously voted and paid over to the Exchequer, because unexpended at the date named; and they had now to be re-voted. Engagements had been made with the artists which must be kept. The mode adopted for paying the artists was the almost universal one of advancing a certain sum before completion. All the smoke which issued from the chimneys of the Houses of Parliament was produced in the private apartments. The fuel used in the public parts of the building was coke, not coal. It would be hardly worth while to interfere with the private residents. Nothing was doing to repair the frescoes, because the exact source of decay had not yet been discovered.
§ MR. W. WILLIAMSsaid, he would move that the Chairman report Progress.
§ Motion made, and Question proposed, "That the Chairman do report Progress, and ask leave to sit again."
§ Motion, by leave, withdrawn.
§ Original Question put, and agreed to.
§ House resumed.
§ Resolutions to be reported To-morrow; Committee to sit again on Wednesday.