§ MR. YOXALL (Nottingham, W.)To ask the First Lord of the Treasury whether, having regard to the proposals to erect a building in a modern style close to Shakespeare's birthplace house at Stratford-on-Avon, he will consider the advisability of appointing a committee to inquire into the propriety of establishing a national trust for the consecration of buildings of historical or biographical interest within the United Kingdom.
(Answered by Mr. A. J. Balfour.) I sympathise with the hon. Member in what I take to be the hon. Member's object, but I am not clear as to the methods by which he proposes to carry it out nor as to the precise meaning he attaches to the word "consecration." If this is to include purchase, compulsory or otherwise, by the State of all buildings now in private ownership which are of historical or biographical interest, the scheme seems to be impracticable. If it falls short of this it will hardly be efficacious.