DOMINION HOUSE.
-UNDER the title "An Imperial Covent Garden" the Spectator of March 8th contained an article which drew attention to a scheme, at that time hardly more than out- lined, of uniting in a single building a sort of half-market, half-exhibition, of the produce of the overseas Dominions of the Empire. The author of the idea of this central market- place is Lord Grey, and he has since developed and enlarged it until there is now something like a practical proposal which can be put before the different Governments whom he hopes to interest. The project which Lord Grey has in mind takes a stronger hold upon the imagination as the mind accustoms itself to the magnificence of the site which he proposes for his building.
The space which Lord Grey has mentally set apart for his purpose lies between Aldwych and the Strand. In that bay lies a central, crescent-shaped piece of ground which is cut into three parts by two roadways. The horns of the crescent are occupied by buildings, or allo- cated to them ; on the west there is the Gaiety Theatre, fronting into the Strand like the blunt bows of a battleship; on the east there is to be the building for the offices of the Commonwealth, whose presence is anticipated by the pioneer offices of the Government of Victoria. The central space, isolated by the two roadways, is unoccupied—a wilderness of tumbled bricks and rosebay willowherb. It is an area of 124,000 square feet, or more than two acres and three-quarters, and it stands in the very centre of the life and the work of London. Northward from it runs the noble avenue of Kingsway to Holborn and Oxford Street and the British Museum; southward there is the great artery of traffic which passes over Waterloo Bridge to the railway, the South of England, and the sea; westward lies the Strand, leading through Trafalgar Square into the Mall and Whitehall; eastward. is Fleet Street, pointing to Ludgate Hill and the City. It is halfway between St. Paul's Cathedral and the National Gallery; it lies in the centre of a five-sided figure with the Temple, the Law Courts, Somerset House, Covent Garden, and the new Opera House at the points; it links the theatres and the hotels of the west with the news- paper world of Fleet Street. It is equidistant from five great railway stations, Euston, St. Pancras, King's Cross, Liverpool Street, and London Bridge; two miles to the west of it you are in Hyde Park, two miles to the east in the docks. Within a stone's throw is the river, and in that respect, too, it will stand well. The south side of our great river, it must be owned, except for its barges and brown-sailed craft, is not a sight which can be shown with pride to a foreigner or a Briton from overseas; but the panorama of the north side, from St. Paul's and the towers of Wren's churches to the Houses of Parliament, is without its equal, or indeed its rival, in the world. It is in the very centre of that panorama that whatever building is erected on the island site of Kingsway will stand.
Here, without doubt, is an opportunity which must not be misused. We have a great responsibility, and a duty to ourselves and to future generations which we cannot neglect. Through the London County Council we have already made one mistake which cannot be repaired : we have thrown away the magnificent view which it was once possible to secure for London for ever, in blocking up the open space between the Law Courts and the Strand with the building which is now in process of erection at the eastern point of the Aldwych crescent. However, that is spilt milk which it is no use crying over; the urgent necessity to-day is to see that we do not make a further mistake by allowing the wrong kind of building to be erected on the site still vacant. For that reason we must first congratulate Lord Grey and his fellow-directors of " The Dominion Site, Limited," on securing a three years' option which, it is to be hoped, will enable them eventually to carry their scheme to success. "The Dominion Site, Limited," is a syndicate which, with Lord Grey as chairman, has been formed for the purpose indicated
by its title ; the directors are Lord Plymouth (never weary in good works for London), Sir Starr Jameson, repre- senting South Africa, Sir John Henniker Heaton, Australia, Mr. George McLaren Brown, Canada, Mr. George Beetham, New Zealand, and Mr. Harry Brittain, and the option which has been secured is of three years, at a rent of £3,000 a year. This can be terminated by either side at the end of the first or second year should the prospects of completing the proposed scheme appear to be inadequate; but the London County Council, who are the owners of the soil, have expressed their willingness to grant a ninety-nine years' lease at a rental graduated up to the fifth year, when it will reach the perma- nent sum of £50,000 per annum. With this as a beginning, the next step will be the securing, if possible, of the approval of the public of the Dominions themselves. If this is obtained, the Governments interested might choose to secure the lease or the freehold of the property, and erect their own building on it ; or the building might be left to some independent body of persons, and the different Governments might become their tenants during the tenure of the lease. There would be no question of speculation or of working for a profit in any case ; the sole deciding question would be the interests of the Dominions.
We come, then, to the consideration of the advantages which would result from the possession in the heart of the capital of the Empire of a building with the possibilities and oppor- tunities of a Dominion House. In the first place, it is quite clear that there would be a great gain in convenience. As matters now stand, the buildings in which are housed the agencies of the great British communities overseas are scattered haphazard through the streets of London, so that, as Lord Grey justly remarks, not one Londoner in a thousand could name off-band the location of a single Dominion's repre- sentative. If business has to be done in person with several of these agencies, as for instance when a potential emigrant or settler wishes to discover where he may find his best chances for the future, there is an irritating and needless waste of time and trouble in travelling, probably with the aid of a directory, through street after street of different parts of London. If all the agencies were collected together into one set of buildings, this quite unnecessary difficulty of inter- communication would be removed. This would be of practical advantage to the agencies themselves ; but a far more impor- tant point would be gained in addition. With the buildings of the different Governments brought together, it would be possible not only for Londoners and Englishmen, but for every British subject visiting England, to realize to an extent and in a degree which is now impossible, the power and the wealth and the importance of the Empire as a whole. The area occupied by such a building as Dominion House would be greater than the space occupied by St. Paul's. A structure of such size and splendour, possibly with a tower which would provide a view over the greater part of London, would make a direct appeal to thought and imagination such as the scattered Agency buildings could never produce, though such an appeal must obviously be one of the main objects of their existence. But the appeal would be to more than the imagination, it would be to plain business instincts. Lord Grey's idea of Dominion House is that it should contain an organized mart and exhibition of the produce of the countries overseas ; be would have stalls and showrooms with the fruit, the corn, the wine, the timber, cotton, tobacco, of British possessions the wide world over. The showrooms would answer the questions which merchants and manufacturers are asking year after year, without obtaining the full reports they need, as to the wants and tastes of the communities with whom they wish to deal, the advantages or drawbacks of this and that rate of taxation, of customs, excise, and trans- port. To be able merely to walk the length of a passage or to open a door and to find that information ready and waiting would be an advantage of which it would be difficult to reckon the value in millions of pounds of trade. Finally, Dominion House would be the centre and club of every oversea Briton travelling in London. There the Canadian or Australian or South African would obtain and compare the knowledge he can only get after long experience of English habits and English reserve ; and his view of the capabilities and capacities of the Mother Country and the metropolis would increase propor- tionately in respect and in affection. The ties would be strengthened; the links would be forged of a metal more finely tempered In a word, Dominion House would be at once a symbol, a centre, and a creative force; and as such we hope that Lord Grey's scheme, appealing as it does so strongly to the imagination, will also receive the practical and financial support which its thoroughly businesslike character deserves. In any case the Preamble is proved.
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