The Festival of Britain
The fact that the Bill making provision for festival gardens in Battersea Park in connection with the 1951 Exhibition got its second reading in the House of Commons on Wednesday without a division is a tribute to the skill and good humour with which the Lord President of the Council wound up for the Government. It would indeed have made a considerable difference if he had spoken first instead of last, and given at the outset the information for which many Members were asking. Three propositions need to be estab- lished—that the Exhibition itself is justified in the financial condi- tions prevailing ; that a lighter element, such as the Battersea Park development is meant to provide, is an essential part of it ; and that for that there is no practicable alternative to the Park. If the first proposition is admitted the other two can hardly be rejected. And while there is abundant reason for questioning the wisdom of expend- ing £m million on any exhibition in present circumstances it is no doubt arguable that the advantages, moral, psychological and even economic, will in the end justify the outlay. As to Battersea Park the emphasis laid on the garden aspect of the development plans— Lord Aberconway, one of the greatest amateur gardeners in the country, is chairman of the committee dealing with that—and the personnel of the committee that will have to approve every form of amusement and recreation go a considerable way to answer the legitimate criticism that has been voiced. Four-fifths of the Park lie outside the Exhibition area, though they may not be completely unaffected by the crowds that the amusement part will attract. The Opposition were wise not to divide against the Bill Now that the country is irrevocably committed to the Exhibition, and the prepara- tions have got as far as they have got, the best' must be made that can be of what is a national, not a sectional, enterprise. There is a good deal to be said for having no Exhibition, nothing for having a second-rate one. Whatever happens, that must not.
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