RESOLUTION. (Hansard, 1 July 1869)

MR. HEADLAM
said, it would be recollected that at an earlier period of the Session he brought before the House the present state of the accommodation of Members. He then asked the House to consent to a Resolution not in favour of any particular plan, but agreeing in substance with the Report of the Select Committee. He was not aware that he met with any opposition in the course of that discussion; but he thought it right to accede to the advice given him by his right hon. Friend at the head of the Government, not to press his Motion to a division. As there were a great number of new Members in the present House he did not think he was justified in asking them to come to a vote in favour of the construction of a new building until they had had experience of the accommodation provided by the present. Since then the debate on the Irish Church and other debates had strengthened his case; and, although the plans for a new building had been for a considerable time before the House, no objections had been raised to the proposal of the Committee. More recently, the Chief Commissioner of Works had circulated a plan for the re-construction of the dining room of the House. The present dining room was, in his opinion, incapable of improvement. It was a long low room, with a northern aspect, quite unsuited to its purpose. By the proposed plan, rooms were appropriated on the dining-room floor, but with a southern aspect, and available both for the Lords and Commons. This would be a great improvement, and it could be carried out without much difficulty. Before the plan of the new House could be carried out, it would be necessary that the dining room should be re-constructed; and he would suggest that during the vacation this part of Mr. Barry's plan should be carried out, and then, when the House met next year, it should determine what should be done in regard to the recommendation of the Select Committee in favour of the construction of a new House of Commons. He had brought the subject before the House in order that the Government might express their opinion and intention as to what should be done.

§ SIR FREDERICK W. HEYGATE
said, that, as a Member of the Select Committee, presided over with so much ability by the right, hon. Gentleman (Mr. Headlam), he wished to bear his testimony to the insufficiency of the accommodation provided by the present building. The right hon. Gentleman had exercised a wise discretion in not calling upon the new Members to vote for the construction of a new House until they had had some experience of the present building, and it took some time for them to realize the discomforts of the House, especially during great debates. The utter insufficiency of the offices of the House—the Vote Office, the Post Office, the Public Bill Office, the refreshment stall, and so forth, must now be known to all, and the question was only one of time. The Chief Commissioner of Works had made, he feared, a rash and injudicious promise when, in a moment of enthusiasm, he undertook to enlarge and improve the accommodation of the Ladies' Gallery. He believed he might confidentially assert that it would be impossible to do anything for them in the present building, except, perhaps, to raise their seats and take away the bars in front of their gallery. There was nothing more important than that the reporters of that House should be fully and conveniently accommodated. The late Member for Belfast (Sir Charles Lanyon) personally examined the Reporters' Gallery, the means of access to it, and the rooms behind it, and he stated that nothing could be worse than the ventilation, heat, and crowding to which those gentlemen were exposed. There existed, moreover, no means of enlarging the accommodation when additional seats in their gallery were required. He trusted that the subject of the accommodation of the House and the necessity of constructing a new House would be 964 seriously considered by the Government during the Recess.

MR. GLADSTONE
said, he hoped that, in reference to the proposed alteration of the dining room, the right hon. Gentleman would put himself in communication with the Chief Commissioner of Works and the authorities in the House of Lords. With regard to the larger question, as to the general accommodation for Members in that House, he trusted that it would not be considered necessary to enter upon that matter at the present time; because they had arrived at that period of the Session when it was impossible to give it adequate consideration. He believed that question must stand over till another Session. When the subject was brought forward on a former day the undertaking was that no further step would be taken upon it during the present Session. As far as the Government were concerned, they had been occupied with more urgent matters, and as respected them the question stood very much in the same state as before. He should be very grateful if the Speaker were now allowed to leave the Chair, because the Business was in a backward state, as far as the Miscellaneous Estimates were concerned.

§ LORD JOHN MANNERS
said, he understood the First Minister of the Crown to agree that the plan submitted by the Chief Commissioner of Works should form the basis of communications with the other House of Parliament. He must say, however, that, unless those communications received the full sanction of the Government as a whole, he did not see that any result would be obtained by the isolated suggestions of the Chief Commissioner of Works. It was, therefore, necessary to know whether the Government gave their assent to the plan of the new dining room proposed by the Chief Commissioner?

MR. GLADSTONE
said, his right hon. Friend the Chief Commissioner of Works had not yet had occasion, to make himself officially responsible for the plan; but if, after communicating with the authorities in the House of Lords, his right hon. Friend should be prepared to act, then the act should be not the act of a Department, but of the Government.

§ MR. BERESFORD HOPE
said, he thought that the matter was not one to be settled by a conversation between the right hon. Gentlemen, but that it con- 965 cerned the whole House. The present was a most opportune moment for opening negotiations with the other House on the subject; and he trusted that next Session they would have a new dining room, and that the Session following the next would find them in a House of Commons that was not a disgrace to the nation.