§ MR. SHAW LEFEVRE (Bradford, Central)I beg to ask the First Commissioner of Works whether he will lay before the House the designs which Mr. Pearson, R.A., prepared for the Royal Commission on Westminster Abbey for a monumental chapel or annexe to the Abbey on the site of the houses in Old Palace Yard, and also the evidence which, from a recent statement in the Times by Sir Henry Layard, it appears that Mr. Pearson gave in support of them; so that a full comparison may be made between this scheme and that for a chapel on the refectory site, the design for which is given in the Appendix to the evidence?
§ THE FIRST COMMISSIONER OF WORKS (Mr. PLUNKET, Dublin University)Mr. Pearson's sketch designs, referred to in the question, were prepared by him for the Royal Commission on Westminster Abbey, on the understanding that they should be treated as confidential, and the evidence mentioned in the question was given in explanation of those designs at a time when the general evidence had been long closed, and the Commissioners were actually engaged in considering their final Report; and when, therefore, no reporter was present. Under these circumstances, we could not publish these designs or the evidence in explanation of them with our Report. I have, of course, no power whatever now to add anything to that Report. I need hardly say that I should have no objection to Mr. Pearson's publishing these sketch plans in any way, and with any explanations he chooses, should he wish to do so. As to the last part of the question, the only design in relation to the refectory site prepared by Mr. Pearson was one suggesting a possible treatment of the interior; no such design was made by Mr. Pearson for the proposed monumental chapel at the south-east corner of the Abbey.