HC Deb 17 December 1942 vol 385 cc2076-8
Sir Ernest Graham-Little

(by Private Notice) asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Works and Planning whether he is aware that Lord Soulbury's Tribunal recently decided to eject the University of London School of Oriental and African Studies in favour of the Ministry of Information; and since this decision will seriously impair the School's ability to fulfil its obligations to the Service Departments, will he arrange to have it reconsidered?

The Joint Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Works and Building (Mr. Hicks)

Yes, Sir. My Noble Friend is aware of the award. It was part of a give-and-take compromise that alternative teaching facilities should be made available, and a scheme is in hand which should prove satisfactory. In the throes of war, when there is a great scarcity of accommodation, there must, if need be, be a general acceptance of reduced standards, and having regard to the long and careful consideration which has been given to the scheme, my Noble Friend feels unable further to review the matter.

Sir E. Graham-Little

Is not the alternative provision totally inadequate? Is my hon. Friend aware that this decision was made without hearing the views of the University Grants Committee, the India Office, the Colonial Office and the Service Departments? Is he further aware that this new encroachment gives to the Ministry of Information the whole of the building provided for the headquarters of London University?

Mr. Hicks

I think my hon. Friend is misinformed in regard to some of the Departments to which he referred. I was present myself on 14th September when there were present representatives of the Ministry of Information, the Admiralty, the Air Ministry, the War Office, the India Office and the Foreign Office.

Earl Winterton

Is the Minister aware that those of us who have had experience in administration of the Overseas Departments in the past regard this School as an absolute necessity, in order that the administration of the Empire may be carried on, and that we have heard with something approaching horror the manner in which the hon. Gentleman dealt with it and the suggestion that this School can be perfectly well reduced during the war?

Mr. Hicks

I am aware of the School, that is partly completed, for Oriental Studies. I have been over the School, and it was with great regret that any attempt had to be made at all to inconvenience it. I can assure the Noble Lord that great consideration has been given to this matter for many months. It is not a question of a hasty decision. Both Lord Soulbury and myself have personally visited the present School and seen the accommodation which they have there, and seen the alternative arrangement. There is quite a lot of accommodation with which the right hon. Gentleman is not at the moment familiar.

Sir John Graham Kerr

Is the Minister aware that the adequate teaching of certain Oriental languages, such as Chinese and Japanese, demands particularly elaborate acoustic arrangements, which are provided in the existing School, and that if he removes the teaching from those conditions he will strike a severe blow at the particular type of teaching of which we are in urgent need at the present time for the war effort?

Mr. Hicks

This matter has been very powerfully advanced by the School of Oriental Studies and by people who have come to urge the claim for the retention of the School for the purpose for which it was originally built. After all this consideration, and before an impartial tribunal, with Lord Soulbury in the chair, the other war needs have been stressed so powerfully, and because the School for Oriental Studies thought they really could accept the other accommodation— mutual discussion took place—the decision was arrived at.

Mr. Harvey

Can the Minister assure the House that the alternative accommodation offered will provide the special acoustic facilities needed and which are provided in the existing building?

Mr. Hicks

I can assure the hon. Member that everything possible and practicable will be done [Interruption.] We know something about how to silence a building, and our technical staff have been put on to this job to see that everything possible is done to minimise any noise there might be in the building, or which might be capable of entering it, in order that as nearly as possible the present facilities enjoyed in the School shall be repeated with the least possible disadvantage.

Sir William Davison

Is the hon. Gentleman aware there are rows of large empty houses in West London?

Mr. Graham White

Could the hon. Gentleman inform the House, in order that hon. Members may be fully seized of the importance of this matter, what important transactions are to be carried out by the Ministry of Information in this building?

Mr. Hicks

In reply to the hon. Member for South Kensington (Sir W. Davison), the type of building he mentions would be much more unsuitable than those selected. I cannot give a reply to the hon. Member for East Birkenhead (Mr. Graham White). Without a Question being put down, I cannot answer that.

Professor A. V. Hill

Is not this accommodation required by the Ministry of Information simply as ordinary offices?

Mr. Hicks

I should have replied like that if I had been able to.

Sir W. Davison

Why cannot the hon. Gentleman use these ordinary empty houses, of which there are a large number?