§ 3.43 p.m.
THE EARL OF HOMEMy Lords, perhaps your Lordships will allow me to interrupt the Committee stage to make a Statement that I am anxious to make at this time? Your Lordships will remember that at the Montreal Conference the Commonwealth were united in welcoming a suggestion by the United Kingdom that a house should be provided in London for Commonwealth meetings which may be held here in the future. The House will remember that this suggestion was warmly welcomed by the Conference. The Prime Minister is making a statement in another place to this effect:
"Her Majesty The Queen, who has shown a close personal interest in this project, has graciously offered to place her Palace of Marlborough House at the disposal of the United Kingdom Government so that it may be available for this purpose. I have expressed to Her Majesty our deep sense of obligation and gratitude and I have received messages from the Prime Ministers of other Commonwealth Governments welcoming this generous offer.
283 "It is a generous and imaginative gesture on The Queen's part to make a Royal Palace available for this Commonwealth purpose. But, while it is so used, the Royal Family will no longer have at their disposal a house which has traditionally been the home either of the Queen Mother or of the Heir to the Throne. I feel confident that if, when the time comes, no other suitable residence is in the disposition of the Crown, a future Parliament will think it right to make appropriate provision for the Prince of Wales to have a home of his own.
"The accommodation at Marlborough House will be both ample and suitable for Commonwealth meetings in London. Its main purpose will be to serve as a meeting place for Commonwealth Prime Ministers whenever they assemble in London. It can also accommodate other Commonwealth Conferences, the meetings on economic matters which it was agreed at Montreal to co-ordinate under the name of the Commonwealth Economic Consultative Council, and meetings of the Commonwealth Economic Committee and other similar bodies. The staff of the Commonwealth Economic Committee can be housed there and we would also hope to provide a Commonwealth reference library which might be open to students and visitors from other parts of the Commonwealth.
"No major structural alterations will be needed. Some adjustment and modernisation will, however, be required to adapt the building to its new purpose and new furnishings and equipment will neat to be installed. This must take time to complete. The cost, together with the cost of maintaining it thereafter, will be borne, subject to the approval of Parliament, on the Votes of the Ministry of Works."
§ 3.46 p.m.
§ VISCOUNT ALEXANDER OF HILLSBOROUGHMy Lords, I am quite sure that every Member of this House will wish to give a very warm welcome to the statement which the Prime Minister is making in another place, and which has been repeated by the noble Earl, who himself is the Secretary of State for Commonwealth Relations. It is a very 284 welcome step forward from something which was outlined at the Montreal Conference, but it is also a most generous gesture, as he says, on the part of Her Majesty. I think it must enshrine in the hearts and minds of the people of this country and of the Commonwealth what is already coming to be imprinted upon them: that Her Majesty herself, and the Queen Mother and the Princess and other members of the Royal family, are probably doing more now than at any other time in the history of the Crown to show their complete and anxious interest in the welfare of the peoples of the Commonwealth. The opportunity which such a permanent meeting place will give for the convenience of those representatives of the Commonwealth who come here for conferences and the like is an exceedingly great opportunity for a collective step forward in the development of those Commonwealth relations that all Parties in this State so heartily desire.
One thing which I think perhaps I might ask the noble Earl the Leader of the House is this. We welcome the statement as it stands, every word of it; but may I take it that this does not mean that there will be special and extra machinery built up in regard to this matter, but, as the statement says, merely that a place is to be provided for the convenience and for the help of Commonwealth Prime Ministers and other representatives of the Commonwealth who may be here for collective conferences and the like?
LORD METHUENMy Lords, I should like to say a few words to indicate how very pleased we must all feel at hearing this news, giving further proof if any were needed, of how our gracious and beloved Queen has this country and the Commonwealth at heart. I can only add that we feel our deepest gratitude for this further proof of her devotion to the duties and responsibilities annexed to her high Estate.
§ VISCOUNT TEMPLEWOODMy Lords, will my noble friend the Leader of the House allow one whose memory goes back many years, to the days of Queen Alexandra at Marlborough House, to say with what pleasure I. and I am sure many other noble Lords, have heard of Her Majesty's gracious intention? May I also add that, assuming that Marlborough House cannot be a Royal residence, I feel 285 certain that Queen Mary, who spent so many years of her life in Marlborough House and who did so much in her early voyage; throughout the Empire to bring the Commonwealth together, would have fully approved of her granddaughter's gracious intention.
§ THE EARL OF SWINTONMy Lords, I am sure that throughout the whole Commonwealth this characteristic, imaginative, generous gesture of Her Majesty will be most cordially and warmly appreciated. The machinery under which we work in the Commonwealth works well. We agreed at Montreal that while (and I think it is important, as the noble Viscount the Leader of the Opposition said, to emphasise this) there has never been any question of establishing any new executive or administrative authority, yet it would be a great advantage if there could be this Consultative Council which, while it had no executive power, would be able to co-ordinate and help in the information. All those of us who have been associated with Commonwealth Conferences have, I know, from time to time felt the desirability of having some regular, suitable house where Commonwealth meetings could take place. More than once the Sovereign has graciously placed St. James's Palace at the disposal of some important conference. Now the offer which was made by the Government at Montreal will be carried into effect in this wonderful way, and a great, historic and beautiful Royal Palace will be placed at the disposal of the whole Commonwealth. In this country—and. indeed, throughout the Commonwealth—I think there has always been a deep feeling of association with historic buildings and historic monuments. Could anything, therefore, be more fitting, and could anything link us more closely together—and, if it were possible, link us more closely to the Crown—than the fact that in this beautiful, historic building the Commonwealth will find a common meeting place?
§ LORD BALFOUR OF INCHRYEMay I ask the noble Earl the Leader of the House one question about the great and glorious news of this wonderful gesture? It is this: when does the noble Earl hope that the Commonwealth Economic Consultative Council may be able to come into being and make its home in 286 this place which has been so generously given, as my noble friend Lord Swinton has said, by Her Majesty the Queen?
THE EARL OF HOMEMy Lords, I know that Her Majesty will be greatly gratified by the warmth of the welcome which has been extended by the noble Viscount the Leader of the Opposition and from all sides of the House to her gracious and most imaginative act. The Queen has, in a most striking way, given one more demonstration that the wellbeing of the Commonwealth of Nations is always uppermost in Her Majesty's mind and in the minds of the members of the Royal Family. The noble Viscount the Leader of the Opposition is quite right: there is not contained in this proposal any suggestion for more centralising or executive machinery. The aim is to house the existing machinery, and to meet any future needs in the most convenient and, I am sure your Lordships will concur, most agreeable way. In answer to my noble friend Lord Balfour of Inchrye, the Commonwealth Economic Consultative Council is already in existence. It consists, of course, of the Economic Ministers of the Commonwealth at the top level, of the officials at the second level, and of any other ad hoc bodies which either the Ministers, or the officials may wish to work under them. As to the timetable involved in this, I should not like to commit myself. It will take time to put Marlborough House (which has not been lived in for some considerable time) in order, but we will set about that as soon as we possibly may.