The battle of the sites for the new Law Courts
has ended in favour of Carey Street. The Select Committee has reported that the site is the most centrical ; that it is most convenient to the profession, and therefore to the public ; that the embankment will be nearly as good an approach to it as to Howard Street ; that it will not cost more in approaches ; that to abandon Carey Street will involve a minimum loss of 136,000 a year ; that the area acquired is big enough for the reduced scale of buildings to be erected ; and, finally, that no decision is possible as to comparative architec- tural effect. The report was carried only by a majority of one, but it is of course final, and the result of the conflict is therefore this : the site selected is retained, but instead of a Palace of Justice, we are to have a set of Law Courts which will require incessant extension, and cost in the end about twice the money that would have given us a building to be proud of.
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