A sketch-plan of the site and altered surroundings of the
proposed National Memorial to Qaeen Victoria is given in the Daily Telegraph of Tuesday. From this we gather that the Mall will be carried through into Trafalgar Square and an arch erected opposite Carlton Terrace. To gain the necessarY additional space in front of Buckingham Palace it is proposed to carry the roadway on either side—leading to Constitution Hill and the Buckingham Palace Road—in a wide curve cutting off a portion of St. James's and the Green Parks, which will be fenced off by a decorative stone balustrade, and affording room for two "islands.' equidistant from the site of the statue, on which allegorical groups of statuary would probably be erected. The nature of the central strueture is oliyiously matter for conjeeture, but it is pointed out that in regard to height it must be regulated by that of the fa,eade of the Palace, which is 80 ft, to the thp Of the balustrade. The scheme thus outlined is, no doubt, capable of impressive treatment, but the sacrifice of -a row Of -trees in the Mall is very deeply to be regretted, and calls, we hold, for a modifica- tion of the plan. The statue may or may not be beautiful, but we know that trees in a town can never be ugly or ont-of place.
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