§ MR. GREGORYsaid, he would beg to ask Mr. Chancellor of the Exchequer Whether a detailed estimate of the repairing, altering, and eventually completing the International Exhibition Building will be laid before the House; whether any statement will be made to the House of the object the Government has in view in purchasing this building, and to what purposes it is to be applied; whether the two glass domes are to be replaced by two permanent 248 structures on the same design, and when the Vote will be taken for this embellishment of London and its vicinity?
§ THE CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUERSir, I feel myself under a double difficulty in answering the question of my hon. Friend. One difficulty is that my noble Friend at the head of the Government has already given notice of the day on which he will submit this important plan to the notice of the House, which is so far an answer to the last part of the question. The second difficulty is that the question itself, especially in its closing phrases, is so fine a work of art that I feel that any answer I can make would be unworthy to stand in comparison or competition with it. The estimate for the cost of altering, completing, and repairing the International Exhibition Building forms part of the whole of that Vote that has been laid upon the table some time, and upon which reliance can be placed; and my noble Friend will be prepared to state fully the object, of the Government in proposing the acquisition of the building, the immediate purposes to which it will be applied, and very particularly also the sum of money it will cost the country to satisfy those purposes in any other way. He will also be prepared to state what is the estimated value of this building and the ground upon which it stands; but it may be interesting to my hon. Friend and the House if I state now the value as it has been ascertained since I stated last night to the noble Lord opposite (Lord John Manners) what price has been agreed to be paid. The value of the building can best be judged of by the agreement made between the Commissioners of the Exhibition last year and the Contractors who erected the building. The price that was agreed upon for the building for what is termed use and waste, that is the temporary occupancy of the building, was £300,000, and the price they were to pay in addition for the purchase of the building out and out, if they desired, was £130,000, making a total of £430,000 in all. The price we propose to Parliament to pay the Contractors for precisely the same object that was effected by the transaction I have just described is £80,000 in lieu of £430,000. The value of the site, with the exception of the building, which we are to purchase, or the price that we are to pay, is £120,000, together with certain buildings, used as refreshment rooms, belonging to the Commissioners. The estimated value of that site—and I 249 think the moderately-estimated value of that site for building purposes, together with £30,000 for the refreshment rooms, is £280,000; and the result of that is that £710,000 would he the estimated value of the property for the purposes of the market—for the purposes of the Commissioners, as it was estimated last year between the Commissioners and the Contractors at those sums of £430,000 for the building and £280,000 for the site together with the refreshment rooms—and that property is to be had, by the conjunction of circumstances, by the public at a cost of £200,000.
§ MR. GREGORYMay I ask the right hon. Gentleman whether a Vote will be taken immediately after the statement of the noble Lord on the subject of this very great bargain?
§ LORD ROBERT CECILI would also ask the right hon. Gentleman if he has in his office any means of obtaining an estimate of the cost of these buildings for annual repairs after they have been purchased.
§ THE CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUERThe cost of the annual repairs of a building of this nature can be estimated with reference to its magnitude and with reference to its character, and no doubt a calculation can be made. I am not authorized to speak positively for my noble Friend, but the Estimate has been laid on the table, and a considerable time will be allowed to the House before a payment is asked in relation to it, in order, I presume, that the Vote may be taken at the time it is brought on.
§ MR. HENRY SEYMOURMay I ask if any Estimate will be laid on the table of the House of the amount that will be required to make the building assume a decent appearance?
§ THE CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUERYes, the Estimate that has been laid on the table includes the necessary cost of making the building assume a decent appearance.