§ MR. SKEWES-COX (Surrey, Kingston)I beg to ask the First Commissioner of Works whether it is intended to proceed with the erection of a national physical laboratory in the Old Deer Park, near to the Queen's Cottage, in the woodland portion of Kew Gardens.
§ THE FIRST COMMISSIONER or WORKS (Mr. AKERS DOUGLAS, Kent, St. Augustine's)The new national physical laboratory is not to be erected, as certain statements in the press might be thought to imply, in the Queen's Cottage grounds or in any other grounds attached to Kew Gardens. It will stand quite outside those Gardens on Crown land which is not within my jurisdiction, but in that of the Office of Woods. As there has been much misapprehension on the subject, it may be well to explain that the only part of the scheme which might possibly be supposed to affect the amenities of the Gardens is a small building which will not, at the outside, cover a quarter of an acre. This building will be so placed as not to interfere with the views from the Gardens over the Old Deer Park, and it will not be opposite to that part of the Gardens round the Queen's Cottage which is reserved in a wild state. The building will only be used for delicate scientific work, which will not disturb the seclusion of the neighbourhood of the Queen's Cottage, and which, in fact, itself requires as much quiet and privacy as can be obtained.
§ MR. SWIFT MACNEILL (Donegal, S.)Is this laboratory to be a vivisection establishment?
§ [No answer was given.]