MR. G. A. CAVENDISH BENTINCK (Whitehaven)I beg to ask the First Lord of the Treasury whether there has been communications between the Government and the Dean and Chapter of Westminster relative to the overcrowded state of Westminster Abbey; whether the Government intend to institute an independent inquiry into the subject; and whether Her Majesty's Government will use their best endeavours to induce the Dean and Chapter to forbid the erection of any more statues, busts, or so-called memorials within the walls of Westminster Abbey, and to remove the statue of the late Earl of Shaftesbury from the west-end of the nave to some other position or place?
§ *MR. W. H. SMITHCommunications have passed between the Dean of Westminster and the Government on the subject to which the hon. Gentleman refers, and I have reason to believe that further representations will probably be made with a view to some inquiry of the nature indicated. My right hon. Friend will probably accept this answer as sufficient for the present.