The Sun.
London, England, 1828-07-10 00:00:00

(erring to and receiving directions from the Office
of Works. The enormous expense of the new Mint,
and its excess beyond the estimate, which was no-
ticed in 1810, by the Committee on Public Income
and Expenditure, in their seventh report; and the
more recent example of the Custom-houses, render
this regulation and the strictest adherence ,to it in-
dispensable.

The new Mews, fronting the north side of West-
-minster Abbey, has beets erected at the expense of
35,2641., and the annual rents payable to the use of
the public, as putt of the land revenue, will .amount
only to about 3/: per cent. upon that sum. The rea-
sons for making the exterior more, ornamental and
costly than the uses to which it is allotted require
are Itsigned in the evidence of Mr. Arbuthnot and
Mr. Burton.

The Regent's Park presents a much better and
more productive instance of management under' the
same department; and it must afford to the House
great satisfattion to know that the laying out and
planting of that extensive ground, together with the
buil`:;ings upon it, which do so much credit- to the
l'Aste and judgment of Mr. Nash, will also soon be-
eome a very profitable addition to the Land Re-
venue, the annual rent being 15,0001. and the re•
raining excess of expenditure beyond receipt being
reduced to 70,0001.

The improvements at and near Charing-cross and
the Strand, under the Statute 7 Geo. IV., c. 77;
are in progress, and by much the greatest portion of
the property required for the purposes .of that. Act
has been obtained. A considerable number of the
old houses near St. Martin's Church has already
been taken down, and new buildings will almost im-
mediately be commenced. in that neighbourhaod ;
but some further purchases remain tn be effected, in
regard to which the Commissioners are proceeding
without delay.

The particulars are detailed in Mr. Arbuthnot's
evidence; together with an account of the sum al-
ready expended, and the estimated cost of the re-
mainder.

While they are upon this subject, your Com-
mittee venture to express a wish that the present
building of the Royal Mews at Charing-cross, the
upper floor of which, being lighted by sky-lights,
can, at a very small expence, be made available for
a national gallery, or other public purposes, may be
preserved; and this matter becomes more deserving
of immediate consideration from the very limited
space of the present house in Pall-mall, allotted to
the reception► of pictures, which is now so crowded
as to be incapable of admitting eveir one other pic-'
ture of large dimensions.

The unneCessarily large expence of 42,1471. lately
incurred for building and furnishing an official resi-
dence for the Secretary of State in the Foreign De-
partment, leads your Committee to observe the im-
provident application of public money in this and
other similar instances. There may be some few
cases in which the constant and almost hourly busi-
ness of an office requires the residence of some officer
attached to it; but this does not seem to apply to
this new expenditure in Downing-street, nor to the
residences in Somerset-placet nor to those belong-
ing to the Ordnance-office in Pall,mall.

If such houses are considered as a part of the sa-
lary annexed to particelir oflices, the expence in-
curred by. the. peblie_very much exceeds the benefit
received by the individuals; a. large annual charge
is incurred for repairs; -die succession of almost
every new occupant giViAoceasion for some addi-
tions or alterations; 'and in residences and offices
where furniture and fixtures are also
.provided,
more unlimited field of extravagance is opened, of
which the specimen of 9,3501. in this new house is
Downing-street, and of 11,319/. in the new Council
Office and the adjoining apartments, afford examples;
the recurrence of vrhielt ought to be _avoided.
The great charge incurred for furniture is so im-
mediately connected with the. official buildings, that
your Committee thought it deserving of particular
notice; and they found that the considerable amount
to which it had arisen in some of the late years, had
already attracted'the attention of the Lords of the
Treasury, and that anew regulation has been made
by them, printed in Mr. Spearman% evidence in the
appendix,iwhich appears well calculated to check eit=-
travagant charges on the part of the tradeStnen who
are employed in furnishing, and . to .prevent all mis-
application or embezzlement of the. funiiture- in the
public offices. The former mode of conducting this
business in the department of the Lord Chamberlain
was certainly defective in many respects, for there
was no competition sought for, nor any comparison
of charges from different tradesmen ; nor was any
further examination of the bills entered into than
that of ascertaining that the - several articles were •
furnished according to the estimate, the estimate
having been made by the tradesman himself. A
small per centage fee was paid by each tradesman to
two controlling officers in the Lard Chamberlain's
office when his bill was paid; but this fee
abolished since the sth April, 1828, under.the new
regulation.
The total sum paid in the last five years for fur-
niture, supplied and repaired for. the two Houses of
Parliament, the Courts of Law at Westminster, and
the various public offices and official houses hr Lon-
don and Westminster, was 142,3561.-
The defects of the present system, under the Act
of 1814, appear to be-
-Ist. Want of responsibility, •

2d. Want of competency to decide,
3d. Want of choice and-competition,
Iron] which three- causes proceed the erection of
buildings unsightly and unsatisfactory, much confu-
sion and variation both in the planning and exe-
cuting of them, and the expenditure of larger sums
than are necessary. _ •

Ist. The Surveyor-General, according to there-
sent constitution of that office, is solely the channel
of communication between the Commissioners of his
Majesty's Treasury and the architect : he exercises
no judgment nor controul, nor gives any opinion as
to the work to be done, or the mode of doing it ;
confining himself to fixing prices, and making con-
tracts accordingly, and examining and checking the
accounts after they have been made out by the clerks
of the works, and the measurers belonging to the
office.

2d. The Surveyor-General hying no duty to
perform in judging of the propriety or sufficiency of
the design or plan, that important business is im-
posed upon the Commissioners of the Treasury for
the time being, who may not always be competent
to decide upon such matters ; and although it may
happen frequently that there are among them per-
sons eminently conversant with 'works of art, it may
also happen that a very efficient Board of Treasury
for all other and more important purposes may be
unfit for this ; and in such a case the architect of the
district, without any real controul or useful super-
vision, may plan and execute whatever is to be done.
according to his own pleasure and discretion.
3d. No sullicient choice is afforded to the Board
of Treasury, who are to judge and decide, for they
have not even taken advantage of having three archi-
tects attached to the office and paid by it; nor does
it appear that they have hitherto at all encouraged
the competition of other professional men, or called
fur any variety of designs.

This last inconvenience may undoubtedly be ob-
viated (as has been before observed) without alter-
ing the Act of 1811; for the Board of Treasury
may, if they think fit, require designs or slight
sketches from each of the three architects, before any
considerable work is undertaken ; and they may also
increase their latitude of selection, by calling for
designs from other professional men of known repu-
tation and ability.
The appointment of a professional architect to
the Office of Surveyor-General having been tried,
and abandoned, is not again to be recommended,
although it possesses the advantage of placing at the
head of this department a responsible person, which
the present method does not.
So much will always -depend upon the qualifica-
tions of the persons who are placed at the head of
any department, that it becomes extremely difficult
to point out or contrive any regulations which can