§ Resolution [August 5] reported.
§ LORD ELCHOwished to know why no sum had been taken in the Estimates, as had been proposed some time since, for the erection of a new War Office, the present building being wholly unfit for habitation? He hoped that next year some steps would be taken either to improve the old office, or to erect a new one. It by no means followed that a new building would necessarily be a healthy one, for he understood that there were three inches of sewage flowing in the basement of the new Foreign and India Offices.
§ Sir CHARLES W. DILKEtook that opportunity of asking some explanation with reference to the Vote of £40,000 in aid of the revenues of Fiji, and said, that last year the noble Earl the Secretary of State for the Colonies stated it had been proposed to advance £ 100,000 to the colony; but when the Papers came in he (Sir Charles W. Dilke) could only find that they had voted £40,000. It seemed that the noble Earl, the Colonial Secretary, had engaged to make a distinct advance of £100,000, rather than grant a loan of the same amount, but he promised only £40,000 for last year and the balance £60,000, this year. What he (Sir Charles W. Dilke) complained of was, that when the Under Secretary of State for the Colonies moved the Vote of £40,000 last year, he did not say a word about the further Vote of £60,000 which was to be asked for 759 this year. No doubt the omission was unintentional; but it was one that should not have occurred. In conclusion, he wished to say that he had read with regret the refusal of the colony of New South Wales to contribute to the expense of the Fiji colony after the promise of the previous Governor that it should bear one-half.
§ MR. W. H. SMITH,in reply to the noble Lord the Member for Huddingtonshire (Lord Elcho), said, that arrangements would be made to place the War Office in a perfect sanitary condition. The erection of a new office was a matter of such importance as to require the most serious consideration of the Government, and the noble Lord had given sufficient reasons to justify their hesitation in embarking on so great an enterprize, for it did not appear to be a matter of certainty that a new building would be superior to an old one in matters of sanitary arrangement. With respect to the observations of the hon. Baronet the Member for Chelsea, it appeared from Hansard that his hon. Friend the Under Secretary for the Colonies made no reference to the Vote of £60,000 for Fiji this year, when moving a Vote of £40,000 for it last year. The original proposal was made to guarantee a loan of £100,000;but the Chancellor of the Exchequer thought it would be better to come to Parliament for the sum that might be necessary, and he hoped that so large a sum as £100,000 would not be required. That was the limit of liability, and he had good reason to hope that the revenues of the colony would afterwards be sufficient to meet its requirements, and ultimately the money advanced would be repaid.
§ Resolution agreed to.