NEW HOUSE OF COMMONS.
EVERY one who has passed a night in the House of Commons, in the body of the House or in the Gallery, will bear witness to its inadequacy, inconvenience, and unwholesomeness. The Times admits that it is very desirable to have a ilew building, but thinks that the funds for the completion of a suitable one would not be forthcoming. But surely on this point the Times is mistaken. Even upon a view of the matter exclusively economical, it would not be difficult to prove that the nation might lay out a very considerable sum to advantage in protecting the health and consulting the comfort of faithful and attentive members of Parliament ; for it should be borne in mind, that the laborious members are the sufferers from the diseases en- gendered by the bad air and other annoyances of the present building—not the idle declaimers and mere attendants on divi- sions. It is quite impossible, moreover, supposing even that the air of the House were not pestilential, to transact the business of the nation decently within its walls, for want of room. Committees of importance are not unfrequently postponed because there is abso- lutely no place for them to meet in. Nay, is it not in evidence, that a full attendance of the House itself is physically impossible —that instead of 658, only 324 members can be accommodated with seats.? This is one of the sources of the mob-like tumult that disgraces the assembly on every debate of unusual interest. How then can the Times assert that the erection of' a new House
is not a matter of great urgency? To get a new House, would be the first step in a right direction—the beginning of improvement in the mode of transacting public business.
We suspect that the Times is right in considering Mr. Humz's estimate of 25,000/. too low for providing an erection at once ample in its accommodation and elegant in its structure. But let the matter be honestly managed; let there be no jobbing ; let the contract he thrown open to the public, and good security taken for its fulfilment; and we have not the slightest doubt that the country will cheerfully confirm the vote of the House for provid- ing ample funds for the purpose—aye, if necessary, to ten times the amount proposed by the economical member for Middlesex.
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