The Sun.
London, England, 1851-06-27 00:00:00

(LEFT SITTING.)

HOUSE OF COMMONS.
The SPEAKER took the Chair at Four o'clock.
PRIVATE BUSINESS.
The Waterford and Tramore Railway Bill was read a
third time and passed.
On the consideration of the Hove Improvement Bill,
as amended,
Mr. LOCKE moved that the Bill be re-committed to
the former Committee, with leave to sit and proceed on
Monday next.
Captain Dunoombe and Sir J. Walsh opposed the mo-
tion, which was supported by Mr. F. French, Sir G.
Pecheil, Mr. Aglionby, and Mr. E. B. Roche, after which
the House divided, when there appeared—
For the motion f• • •.•
Against it ... ... ...
Majority ... ...
The motion was then agreed to.
GREAT EXHIBITION.

... 92
... 34
•.• -58

Mr. STAFFORD, in rising to put a question to
,he Noble Lord at the head of the Government
on the subject of the Crystal Palace, said he hoped the
Noble Lord would not suppose that he brought forward
the matter in any spirit of censure towards the Govern-
ment, or with the view of extorting from the Noble
Lord the expression of a direct and positive
opinion on the subject.—(Hear, hear, and cries of " Or-
der, order.") He knew that it was against the rule to
enter upon any lengthened statement in putting ques-
tions, but in order that he might explain his motives in
bringing this subject forward, he would move for the
sake of form that the House at its rising do adjourn till
Monday next. It would have been premature to have
brought this question forward earlier, because the
public were not supposed to have been in posses-
sion of sufficient grounds to enable them to form a
decisive opinion upon it ; but it should be recol-
lected by the House that when the arrangement with
regard to the present site of the building was made the
Commissioners had No idea at all of what materials the
building would be composed, but, like the large majority
of the House, who urged the expediency of granting
the site, they thought it would be constructed with the
usual materials. Now, although the actual nature of
the materials with which it had been built might militate
against its removal, on the other hand there were, per-
haps, still stronger reasons why the present structure
should not be continued where it was.—(Hear, hear.)
The first question which be wished to put to the Noble
Lord would be one of mere form, because he appre-
hended that according to the existing arrangement the
Commissioners would have no alternative but to remove the
building when the proper time arrived for doing so; but
whether it was ultimately retained in its present site or
removed, he felt convinced that, the question was one of
so national and important a character that it would not
be satisfactory to the public if it were brought forward
for the purpose of being finally settled at an
advanced period of the session when many Mem-
bers would have left town, and only a few could
be called upon to pronounce a decision on the
subject.—(Hear, hear.) He, therefore, wished now to
ask the Noble Lord, first, in his capacity of Commis-
sioner, and secondly, as the Prime Minister of the
Crown ; and again, of the Govvernment, the two
questiens of which he had given notice, namely,
whether the Commissioners of the Exhibition consider
themselves bound to remove the edifice existing in Hyde
Park; and if so, whether her Majesty's Ministers are
prepared to take any steps to maintain it iu its present
position? Ho repeated, that he did not wish
the Noble Lord to pronounce any opinio❑ of his
own on the subject, but if the Government
intended to take it into consideration, this
was the time to do it, because, according
according to the present arrangement the building must
be destroyed in the month of October.—(Hear, hear.)
If, therefore, the Government intended to take rip the
matter or to call the attention of Parliament to it, they
should do so now that the House was, comparatively
speaking, fully attended.—(Hear, bear.)
Lord J. RUSSELL said he would answer the ques-
tion both as a Commissioner and the Minister of the
Crown, and in the first place be 'could only recall the
recollection of the House to the fears expressed last year
that the temporary building which was intended for the
Exhibition in Hyde-park might be converted into a per-
manent erection, and thereby obstruct a large portion of
the ground which had been devoted to the use and
enjoyment of the frequenters of the park.—(Hear, hear.)
In the course of that agitation the Commissioners made
an agreement of a formal nature with the Commis-
sioners of Woods and Forests, by which it
was agreed the building to be erected for
Exhibition should not be continued opened longer than
the Ist of November in the present year, and that
within six months after that time the building should be en-
tirely taken down or removed, and the ground upon which
it stood restored to its former state.—(Hear, hear.)
Now the Commissioners, he conceived, had no power to
do otherwise than act according to the agreement
which they had so made, and they had no
intention, as far as he was aware of, either of
departing from its terms and conditions, or of asking for
further time to carry them out.—(Cheers.) With re-
gard to the question put to him as the Minister
standing at the head of the Government,
his answer would be a short one. The matter
had not hitherto been a subject of deliberation
with the Government at all—(Hear, hear)—and for
his own part he must be allowed to say that ho had seen
no materials as yet upon which the Government could
form any opinion. The course, therefore, which they
meant to adopt would depend in a great measure upon
the wishes and feelings of the public, who had been ac-
customed to enjoy the Park. It would be for the public
generally to take the initiative in deciding the question,
whether the present building should bo pulled down or
Permanently maintained, but in ultimately deciding such
a question as that there were many matters which
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consideration of the
Government.—(Hear, hear.)
Tke eubject then dropped.