HC Deb 07 March 1892 vol 2 cc165-8
MR. WHITMORE (Chelsea)

I beg to ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he can state what progress has been made in the negotiations with Mr. Henry Tate for the election of a Gallery for British pictures?

DR. FARQUHARSON (Aberdeenshire, W.)

I beg to ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether any, and, if so, what, steps have been taken to provide for the building on the land recently purchased for the purposes of "Science and the Arts" of a Science Museum, and for the extension of the Royal College of Science so urgently required for the training of science teachers?

THE CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER (Mr. GOSCHEN,) St. George's, Hanover Square

As this is a matter which has excited a very large amount of interest, I may, I hope, be allowed to make a fuller statement than that contained within the limits of an ordinary answer. My hon. Friend will have seen by the Correspondence, which was published on Saturday, between Mr. Tate and myself, that the negotiations for the erection of a Gallery for British pictures have not arrived at a successful issue. I regret this extremely. The Government were most anxious to meet the generous offer of Mr. Tate, and not only to house his pictures, but to find a handsome site for the erection of the building for which he offered £80,000. Mr. Tate, I am sorry to see, condemns the East and West Galleries at South Kensington as "tunnel-like edifices," and will not think of them as a home for British Art. We have, on the other hand, such men as Lord Hardinge, Sir Frederick Leighton, Sir James Linton, Sir Henry Layard, Lord Carlisle—gentlemen connected with the National Gallery, the National Portrait Gallery, the Royal Academy and the Water Colour Institute—who not only gave their general impressions, but visited the building at the request of the Lord President of the Council and myself, and signed a Memorial to the effect that— Having visited the East and West Galleries at South Kensington in reference to their adaptability for the purpose of a National Gallery of British Art, we beg to state that in our opinion they are adequate in regard to space and well lighted. Lord Carlisle's opinion was that— In the essential matter of satisfactory lighting no Gallery with which I am acquainted is so well constructed. We had, moreover, an official letter from the Trustees and Directors of the National Gallery, stating that— Having had before them a Memorandum drafted by Lord Carlisle respecting the formation of a Gallery of Modern British Art, and recommending the appropriation of the Eastern and Western Exhibition Galleries at South Kensington for that purpose, they desire to express their approval of the proposal generally, and their hope that it will meet the views of Mr. Henry Tate. I mention this to show that the offers of the Government were at least genuine offers, that they met generally the views of some of the highest authorities on the housing of pictures. I may add that one of the objections raised to the Galleries—namely, that their entrances were mean—is being remedied by it having been agreed by the Commissioners of the 1851 Exhibition that they should have façades in connection with the Imperial Institute, so that they should have a dignified entrance fitting for such valuable collections of pictures as, it was hoped, will be found, and in harmony with the Imperial Institute and with the connecting Gallery. The very idea of these Galleries emanated from men devoted to art. However, as Mr. Tate was not, and is not, satisfied, the Government, on learning that he would erect a Gallery himself at a cost of £80,000, sought to accommodate him with a site. Mr. Tate states that he did not select the disputed corner—namely, the corner bounded to the east by Exhibition Road and to the north by the new Imperial Institute Road; but I have understood throughout that no site at South Kensington would satisfy him that did not face towards Exhibition Road. He himself wrote on the 20th February, 1891, that he would be glad if an offer could be made to him of the site at the corner of Exhibition and Imperial Institute Roads, and added— A frontage to Imperial Institute Road only would not do. Such a building must have a frontage to Exhibition Road. There is land at the west side of the South Kensington plot which might have been available, and is available; but I am afraid that it will no more meet Mr. Tates wishes than a frontage to the Imperial Institute Road alone. Knowing, then, the decisive importance which Mr. Tate attaches to a frontage towards Exhibition Road, when we found, for the reasons expressed in my letter to Mr. Tate, that we could not deal with the particular coiner in question, we offered him another site, with frontage to Exhibition Road, further to the north. Mr. Tate, I am sorry to say, considers this site wholly inadequate, though it would, as I am assured, offer room for a building equal in size and availability to the National Portrait Gallery now in course of erection. It would give room for many hundreds of pictures, and might so be connected to the Eastern Galleries as to afford opportunity for almost indefinite expansion. In conclusion, I may say that, though I can understand the disappointment of Mr. Tate with regard to the special corner in question, I venture to hope that the door is not finally closed on the establishment of a Gallery for British Art. The Government, at all events, will show in future, as we have endeavoured to do in the past, every possible desire to facilitate such a scheme. With regard to the question of the hon. Member for West Aberdeenshire, it has been impossible to take any steps towards beginning the erection of a Science Museum or the extension of the Royal College of Science until the question connected with the British Art Gallery has been settled. I, myself, had visions of a scheme, independently of building on that controversial corner, which I had thought might have given ample satisfaction, both for the present and future, to the scientific world, but the matter will now have to be re-considered.

MR. MORTON (Peterborough)

I wish to ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he has used his influence with the Corporation of the City of London in order to induce them to sell at reasonable terms a site on the Embankment for a Gallery?

MR. GOSCHEN

We have done our best to see whether we can facilitate the acquisition of such a site by offering to contribute towards defraying the cost, so anxious were we not to lose the generous offer of Mr. Tate. It was, however, impossible to come to terms with the Corporation.

MR. MORTON

Will the right hon. Gentleman try once more? I think he may succeed.

DR. FARQUHARSON

I wish to ask the right hon. Gentleman whether he is aware of the very cramped and unsatisfactory condition under which scientific teaching is carried on at South Kensington? Is the right hon. Gentleman aware of the conditions by personal observation?

MR. GOSCHEN

I have examined the site several times. I admit that the scientific work at South Kensington is at present cramped, and I will endeavour, in conjunction with my right hon. Friend the First Commissioner of Works, to find some temporary building to meet the difficulty before the final scheme is adopted.