The Mother of Parliaments

Press, 19 August 1978, Page 17

The Mother of Parliaments

Mid-Vidorian Masterpiece. By Barnett Cocks. Hutchinson. 201 pp. Index. $17.90. Those people who walk warily down the creaking corridors of power in New Zealand’s old Parliament Buildings, wondering if the next earthquake or flare-up in the House will bring the whoje edifice down, at least have the confort of knowing that to one side there is the new, sturdy, even luxurious Beehive and that the development plans will not stop there. In this, they are better off than people in the Mother of Parliaments whose building has long since given up the unequal task of coping with human demands, and who can see little relief in the future. Sir Barnett Cocks writes an absorbing history of the New Palace of Westminster from its painful birth through its tortured life since, as successive generations of British politicians have, in turn, abused and lauded it. The author, who retired at the end of 1973 as Clerk of the House of Commons, obviously has a strong affection for Sir Charles Barry’s “MidVictorian Masterpiece” and just as obviously has cooler feelings towards the Parliamentarians who for more

than a century have vilified, vacillated over, and vandalised it. In Victorian times, the haggling of Parliamentarians over details of the building and, of course, cost contributed to pushing up the cost from the original estimate of $BOO,OOO into the millions. In 1972, the more recent politicians showed they are no different. Robin Spence, a nephew of Sir Basil Spence, and Robin Webster won a design contest for a building to house M.P.s near Parliament. The original estimated cost was $5.4M, but, after three years of dithering and disagreement by the Parliamentarians, the cost rose to an estimated S3OM and the scheme was dropped. Cocks makes this depressing picture come alive with a light touch, the odd piece of scandal, and amusing anecdotes such as that about the eccentric Victorian air conditioning expert who wanted to use one-third of the interior of Barry’s palace for his ventilation system. — BARRY HOLLAND.