The Sun.
London, England, 1868-06-05 00:00:00

THE NEW PUBLIC OFFICES.

The report of the commission appointed by Treasury
minute to inquire into the accommodation to be provided
for the public departments has been published. The com-
missioners recommend that the War Department shOuld
occupy the site now appropriated to Dover House, and the
offices which lie between it and Downing-Street. Being
convinced that the proximity of the naval and military
departments is highly desirable, the commissioners are
of opinion that the Admiralty shoUld remain on its
present site, augmented by the addition of the present
Pay Office. The total requirements of these departments
would be 140.400 feet, and the available space 147,000,
leaving a surplus of 6,600 for future growth. Should
this recc mmendation be adopted, it would seem to follow,
as a most convenient, if not necessary, consequence, that
the civil departments should be all concentrated in a
line with the military and naval departments, on the
area bounded by Downing-street on the north,
Great George-street on the south, Parliament-street
widened by the incorporation of King-street, on
the east, and St. James's Park on the west. The
commissioners also think that it is desirable to con-
centrate in the neighbourhood of Whitehall, the Treasury,
Office of Works, Office of Woods, the Audit Office, the
Paymaster-General's Office, the Council Office, Board of
Trade and Education Department, the Poor-law Board,
Civil Service Commission, and temporary commissions.
The total cost involved in the purchase of property
necessary for the carrying ont of this plan is estimated at
£1,443,920, exclusive of the cost of that already acquired.
The total building space required would in round num-
bers be 313,000 square feet, and the cost of buildings and
fixtures would be £1,878,000, making, together with the
price of the ground, a total first cost of £3,321,020. As a
set-off to this expenditure, the commissioners estimate as
the produce of the sale of the Board of Control, £50,000,
and they think that the sum represented by the capitali-
sation of the annual value of premises now occupied by
public departments, but which would hereafter be accom-
modated in the proposed new buildings, cannot well be
estimated at less than £475,000, making a total set-off of
£525,000, to be placed against the total first cost of
£3,321,020, leaving a net cost of £2,796,920. To
complete this improvement the commissioners urge the
removal of St. Margaret's Church to a convenient site
now being acquired by the Government on the west side
of the Victoria Tower, and for which object £25,000 would
probably suffice. When a magnificent street, 150 feet
wide, has been opened from Whitehall to Westminster
Abbey and the new Palace, it would become more than
ever necessary to remove what will then be the only
obstacle to the Abbey forming the termination of a vista
which will probably be unsurpassed in any European capi-
tal. The method by which this scheme should be carried
out is also suggested by the commissioners. They point out
that, whatever may be the expense, " the work is intended
for the convenience and the ornament of all future
generations. Heretofore little has been done towards this
object, and now it has to be done once for all. The charge
ought, therefore, to be spread over a long period, like that
for the new fortifications. Otherwise the present tax-
payers would defray the whole expense, and a work which
ought to be vigorously prosecuted at several different
points, in order to avoid serious delay and inconvenience,
would be subjected to the uncertain contingencies of the
Chancellor of the Exchequer's annual budget."