PUBLIC OFFICES SITES (EXTENSION) [EXPENSES]. (Hansard, 26 May 1908)

§ MR. FELL
said that this was an important matter on which they ought to have some explanation. The amount of £600,000 out of the Sinking Fund had been already allocated for the purpose of the erection and completion of the Government buildings in Great George Street. This Resolution was to authorise 1038 the payment of any expenses not otherwise provided for. He did not think they should pass the Resolution without some explanation as to the total sum in which Parliament might become indebted in addition to the £600,000 already voted.

§ THE FIRST COMMISSIONER OF WORKS (Mr. HARCOURT,) Lancashire, Rossendale
thought he could make the matter clear. The Motion just read from the Chair was a form of the House which it was necessary to follow in order to authorise the Select Committee appointed under the Public Offices Sites (Extension) Bill, which had been read a second time, to consider a short clause in that measure. He had already explained on the Second Reading of that Bill how the money was provided. The money required to cover the cost of erecting the buildings in Great George Street was included in the £600,000 allocated in one of the Budget resolutions. There was not the slightest intention of exceeding that amount; the whole thing was merely a formality to enable the Committee to get to work.

§ LORD BALCARRES (Lancashire, Chorley)
said he quite understood that this was merely in the nature of a formality, and that the Bill could not be finally completed until sanction had been given by the Committee of the Whole House to this financial Resolution. After all, £600,000 had just been voted out of the Sinking Fund. That was not a mere formality; and the Resolution seemed to indicate that further sums in addition to that sanctioned four years ago might be required. He observed that sanction was asked for the acquisition of land, but a great part of the land already belonged to the Government, and the money to buy it had been made available five years ago, and had only to be called up by the Treasury. The present Resolution was to authorise other expenses. What did the right hon. Gentleman anticipate would be the total cost of the acquisition of all the land required, and what other expenses were there? The right hon. Gentleman said they would take £600,000 out of the Sinking Fund and that the rest of the money they already had under the Act of 1903. He wished to know what 1039 the land was in Great George Street, and what the other expenses were. It seemed to him that there was a danger or at least a possibility of a large sum being required.

§ MR. COURTHOPE
hoped the right hon. Gentleman would be able to tell the Committee that the money provided by this Resolution would be spent, and as soon as possible, in the provision of new offices for the Board of Agriculture. Not only was the Board housed in a very inconvenient, but also in a very extravagant fashion in six different buildings. The leases of those buildings, curiously enough, all fell in in about four years time, so that new buildings should be provided as soon as possible in order to avoid the necessity of renewing those leases.

§ MR. HARCOURT
said he had explained on the Second Reading of the Bill that the Board of Agriculture was one of the offices he hoped to be able to house in the new building. It was a little difficult to say at this moment what would be the demands of the Education Office and the Local Government Board, which had been already allotted to the existing building, and the Board of Trade would also occupy part of the new site; but he was keeping the Board of Agriculture in mind and was anxious to house them in this new building. In answer to the noble Lord, he might say that this Resolution was in the form prescribed by the House. It had nothing to do with the actual wording of the Bill of the Government. It was only to enable the Committee to deal with the provisions of the Bill and nothing more.