The Minister of Works' refusal to reprieve the Dome of
Discovery seems to he quite sound. The Dome was created for a particular purpose, it has served that purpose and no one, so far as I have seen, has been able to suggest any other practical purpose for it. The London County Council has asked for more time to think: but if a fortnight's concentrated thought on such a subject (and the Council has had much more than that) yields no result what reason is there for thinking that six months of thought would be more fruitful ? The Dome, as I say, served its purpose, but no one can claim that it is a thing of beauty externally. And though it may be a triumph of engineering skill it has served its purpose in that respect too. All the drawings, measurements, weights and every other detail exist, and—speaking in complete ignorance —I should suppose that every lesson to be learned from the construction of the Dome can be learned almost if not quite as well from the blue-prints as from the structure itself. If so there is no reason why it should not go the was, of the fantastic and mean.ngless skylon, and a good deal of reason why it should.
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