§ SIR E. DURNING-LAWRENCE (Cornwall, Truro)To ask the hon. Member for Chorley, as representing the First Commissioner of Works, if any decision has been arrived at in connection with a proposal to erect an archway or memorial at the eastern end of the Mall Extension, to commemorate those who died during the South African War; and whether His Majesty's Government contemplates the erection of any such memorial in London.
(Answered by Lord Balcarres.) The Government have given very careful consideration to this proposal, but they regret that they are unable to appropriate the archway which is to be erected at the east end of the Mall Extension for this purpose. They do not think that it would prove a suitable building for a memorial of this kind; nor call they undertake to find any other site. In view of the fact that memorials to those who fell in the war have been and are being erected in moat parts of the United Kingdom and the Empire, the Government are not prepared to say that the proposal for a national memorial in London seems to be generally regarded as desirable.