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MR. BAILLIE COCHRANE rose to call the attention of the House to the Report of the Select Committee on Public Buildings and Offices, and especially to the evidence given by the late Secretary of State for War, who pronounced the present accommodation of the War Department to be a scandal to the country, and said that whatever was to be done ought to be begun this year; and also to the concluding paragraph of the Report—
Your Committee cannot too strongly insist on the expediency of the Government losing no time in proposing some plan by which the evils complained of may be remedied. It is their opinion that delay will lead to greater expense in the future, and that immediate action is demanded for the efficiency and comfort of the Public Departments and for the dignity of the country.
The hon. Member said, that, in his opinion, the £6,000,000 necessary to carry out the proposed improvements
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ought to be asked for; especially as the French Chamber had last year voted £5,000,000, and the Municipality of Paris £2,000,000, to carry out the improvements they thought necessary in their own capital. It was a most important question, and ought to be dealt with at once, as some of the offices were not in so satisfactory a condition as the public offices of a great country like England ought to be.
§ THE CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUERadmitted that, in many respects, this was an important question. Irrespective of considerations of taste, it was necessary that the best arrangement should be come to for the accommodation of the Public Departments, some of which were in a very unsatisfactory condition. His hon. Friend had paid much attention to the subject, and the Committee had made various suggestions, which deserved consideration. At the same time, he was bound to look at the matter in more points of view than one, and especially to take into consideration the question of economy. It was not alone for him to consider what was really a reasonable amount that the Government should be called upon to expend upon the work. Many questions were raised occasionally with respect to the reconstruction of public offices which did not fall properly within the province of the Government. At the same time, he agreed that time ought not to be lost for carrying through some further arrangements for the improvement of the War Office and the Admiralty, which were the two Departments requiring better accommodation. At present, the War Office was housed in several buildings, which had not been constructed with a view to the convenience of the Department. At the same time, a good deal had been done lately to mitigate the inconveniences under which that Office had suffered. With regard to the Admiralty, there was another difficulty. The object was to avoid two movements, which would be involved in turning the Department out of the present building, and, when the new one was completed, bringing it back again. At the present moment, he was in communication with his right hon. Friends the Secretary of State for War and the First Lord of the Admiralty; and he was not without hope that he might be able, before the end of the Session, 1452 to make a statement on this subject, which, he admitted, could not be postponed indefinitely.