CLAUSE 1.—(Power to Various Authorities to Contribute towards Acquisition of Crystal Palace.) (Hansard, 29 July 1913)

§ The PRESIDENT of the LOCAL GOVERNMENT BOARD (Mr. John Burns)

The object of the Bill is to enable the City of London, the London County Council and seven or eight metropolitan borough councils to contribute towards the purchase and acquisition of the Crystal Palace. Some £238,000 has been collected by private subscriptions and contributed by public authorities for the purchase of the Crystal Palace, and the large acreage of ground attached to it. Under the existing law it is not possible for the local authorities legally to contribute to this object unless they have statutory sanction for the money which various of them have by the votes of their council already decided to give. The justification for the Bill consists in one simple fact. The House of Commons this year has allowed the London County Council, by a public Bill brought in and passed through Parliament, to subscribe £30,000 towards this purpose. The proposal was not challenged in any way. No question was raised in the House and the Committee upstairs gave the permission without difficulty. It does seem to me that, as the House has sanctioned a contribution by the county council of £30,000, these other authorities should have the same power given to them legally to contribute to the same object. Altogether £90,000 has been promised by various local authorities and the Palace will be managed by a trust in which the local authorities and others who have contributed will have a proportionate share. The trust will be constituted on lines similar to those on which the Alexandra Palace Trust was formed some years ago. The Bill before the Committee legalises the contributions of the local authorities; it enables others who may contribute to come in; and it provides for 502 returns of the contributions of the various local authorities to be made to the Local Government Board. The loan period will be on the lines of the loan period sanctioned under various public Acts such as the 1875 Public Health Act, and the County Council Act of 1888. It is only right that in this short statement I should say that the public generally are exceedingly indebted to the Lord Mayor of London for the public spirited appeal which he made on behalf of this object. Further, we are all indebted to the private donors who have come forward with contributions, and we are extremely indebted also to the Earl of Plymouth for the public spirit which he has displayed in connection with the matter for the last three or four years. I sincerely trust that a project such as this to add to the public institutions which exist for the benefit, not only of London, but of the rest of the Kingdom, a great institution such as the Crystal Palace, which has proved itself to be of immense value in promoting the education and the happiness of many millions of people who have passed through its doors, may have an entirely successful career. I appeal, therefore, to the Committee to give this benevolent and useful project its blessing by allowing the Bill to pass to-night with hardly any criticism, if any at all.