§ The Earl of Aberdeenwished to ask a question relative to a subject which was in some degree, if not directly, connected with the situation which the noble Viscount opposite (Lord Duncannon) held. He alluded to the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew. 847 He had heard many reports, with respect to the intention of the Government to abandon and destroy that fine establishment. He should have given little or no credit to those reports, if he had not been informed that an offer had been made to the Horticultural Society of this city to give up to them the plants in the gardens on certain conditions. That society was very well known to be anxious to forward horticultural pursuits; but they nevertheless, declined the offer. They refused to become parties to a transaction which had for its object the destruction of those gardens. He considered the Botanic Gardens at Kew to constitute a part of the state and dignity of the Crown, which ought by no means to be alienated from it. He knew not what expense this establishment might entail on the civil list; but he should be happy to see assistance given by the country, if it were necessary, in support of an object of this description. So far from desiring to destroy this establishment, he should think that her Majesty could not favour a better object than the protection, encouragement, and cultivation of that delightful science with which those gardens were connected. He now asked the noble Viscount who was at the head of the department of Woods and Forests, whether any such intention as that to which be bad alluded, at present existed? or whether the tacit reproof administered by the Horticultural Society, to whom the offer was made, had induced the Government to forego their original intention?
§ Viscount Duncannonsaid, that the Botanic Gardens of Kew were not under the control of his department. But he could assure the noble Earl, that there was not only not the least intention now to break up those gardens, but there never had been any such intention. Indeed, the would have been next to impossible; for a great many of the plants could not be removed without insuring their destruction.
§ The Earl of Aberdeenhad no wish to allege anything against the noble Viscount's department, which he believed to be the best managed under the Government; though, perhaps, that was not saying a great deal in its favour. The noble Viscount had informed them that these gardens did not come within the range of his department. It therefore might be supposed, that the noble Viscount was not aware of all the circum- 848 stances of the case. Now, he could assure the noble Viscount, that an offer of the plants was made to the Horticultural Society of London, that society had refused the offer so made, thinking it would be injurious to the public interests that the establishment should be so broken up. The noble Viscount thought that the plants could not be removed without great danger. That might be so; but there could not be a doubt that the offer of the plants was made to the London Horticultural Society on certain conditions—Such, for instance, as that the public were to be admitted freely to the society's gardens one day hr the week, or something of that sort. He was, however, most happy to find, that the project was abandoned.
§ Viscount Duncannonsaid, though the care of the gardens was not in his department, he had the authority of the Lord Steward for stating, that no intention of breaking up the gardens now existed.