4. ROYAL GALLERY. (Hansard, 20 March 1928)

THE EARL OF DONOUCHMORE
My Lords, I beg to move that the first Report from the Select Committee on House of Lords Offices be now considered and adopted.
Moved, That the first Report from the Select Committee on House of Lords Offices be now considered and adopted.—(The Earl of Donoughmore.)

THE EARL OF CRAWFORD
My Lords, this Report relates, in the fourth paragraph, to the Royal Gallery and to War Memorial of your Lordships' House, and the Offices Committee of the House of Lords has recorded its opinion that designs in connection both with the House of Lords' War Memorial and with the proposed decoration of the Royal Gallery should be referred forthwith to Royal Fine Art Commission. I have the honour of being a member of that Commission, and I would say at once that, if this House should express such a wish, my colleagues on that Commission will do their utmost to be of service. The 531 subject is one of real complexity and, in point of fact, advice has already been offered on several questions connected with the War Memorial. The Fine Art Commission has expressed its opinion about the employment of the recess in the Royal Gallery for the monument, about the lateral statues which flank the recess, about the projected method of lighting from the ceiling and, finally, as to the disposition of the names of the deceased.
I really doubt if my colleagues will be in a position to add anything to their views about the Memorial itself, but a new issue will be brought before them arising from the projected decoration of the Gallery. That certainly raises points of great interest and great difficulty, because any large scheme of mural decoration must be considered in relation to the scale of the Gallery itself and equally in relation to the two great pictures by Maclise from one of which the Gallery takes one of its names. Furthermore, the relation of a large suite of paintings to the War Memorial is naturally of great importance. If the necessary data for forming a judgment are available for the information of the Royal Commission, I can assure your Lordships that we will give the matter our most careful attention and will make our views known to the Chairman of Committees at the earliest convenient moment.

§ LORD CAWLEY
My Lords, I should like to say that I really feel that most of these matters ought to have been considered a good while ago. It is now some nine years since this fund was set on foot, and some of us who are very deeply interested in it are beginning to feel that we may not live long enough to see the Memorial put up. I hope that the Lord Chairman and the noble Earl who has just spoken will do all in their power to hasten matters.

THE EARL OF DONOUGHMORE
My Lords, I am much obliged to the noble Lord for making his request. That is what I have been doing for nine years, and I quite appreciate his feelings. The big question before your Lordships at this moment has nothing to do with the Memorial. It is the question of the decoration of the Royal Gallery, which is a very much larger one than that of the Memorial. I quite admit that the latter is mixed up with it. That is inevitable, and I am not blaming anybody. I am not entitled to speak for the First Commissioner of Works, who is going to submit this matter to my noble friend and his colleagues, but I need not say with what pleasure I have heard the statement that the noble Earl has made as to his willingness to consider it.