NEW ZEALAND GIFT

Otago Daily Times, Issue 27272, 24 December 1949, Page 9

NEW ZEALAND GIFT

TWO DESPATCH BOXES RECONSTRUCTED HOUSE OF COMMONS From A. W. Mitchell, NZPA Special’ Correspondent LONDON, Dec. 19. Ministerial and Opposition smacks or pats on despatch boxes in the House of Commons will have a slightly more personal/ interest for the New Zealander in about 10 months’ time; for the two despatch boxes for the new House of Commons, which is to be completed and opened by next October at a cost of nearly £2,000,000, have been presented by the Dominion. The despatch boxes are placed on a table in front of the benches from which Government and Opposition leaders speak, and they receive cavalier treatment on occasions when tempers rise high in debates. The main structure of the new House is more or less complete, and during the months ahead internal fittings are to be installed. Gifts for the building come from all parts of the Commonwealth in addition to New Zealand. Australia has provided the Speaker’s chair, Canada the table of the House, India has sent the first entrance door to the Chamber, and another entrance door comes from Pakistan. South Africa provided three chairs for the clerks’ table, Newfoundland sent six chairs for the Prime Minister’s conference room and Northern Ireland provided three clocks. The colonies and dependencies contributed desks, inkstands and table lamps. Scotland and Eire so far have not made gifts. The old House was destroyed on May 10, 1941, by incendiary and highexplosive bombs, which did not destroy any of the neighbouring buildings. At Mr Churchill’s suggestion an arch left standing after the bombing has been incorporated into the new House.. It is at the entrance to the Chamber from the Commons’ lobby, and bomb and fire scars on its_ stones have been left untouched. It is known unofficially at the moment as the “Churchill Arch.’’

Care has been taken to repeat the Gothic style of the old Chamber, but it has not been found possible to provide sufficient seats for all members to take their places at the same time. There will be room for only 437 of the 625 members, which means that on important occasions many will - still have to find room where they can, crowding round the Speaker’s chair and sitting on the steps of the aisles. There are 161 seats for newspapermen and 326 for visitors. There is also room for 15 officials. Complicated Job

Sir Giles Scott, architect of the new Chamber,- has stated: “ It has certainly been the most complicated job I have ever had.” He has achieved a Chamber which is “sympathetic with the rest of the structure,” but treated differently in order to achieve a “better quality of design.” Sir Giles found the Gothic detail of the old chamber “lifeless and uninteresting,” and believes the new one will, have an entirely different effect. The “ ecclesiastical ” windows, for example, have been replaced by domestic ones. The new buildings, both internally and externally, have been faced with a variety of stones, the principal one being Clipsham stone quarried in Rutland.

Some of the ancillary accommodation, principally in the cloisters, is being built of Portland stohe, with the internal facings of Caen stone to match existing work. Ventilation and Heating.

To assist hearing an amplifier is being placed between each two seats, a great number of tiny holes having been pierced in the boards of the roof to absorb the sound and prevent echo, and the panelling at the back of the side galleries is sloped forward for acoustic purposes; The design of the heating and ventilation conforms to the best practice in air conditioning. , In the old chamber all the air was introduced through gratings in the floor and exhausted through the roof. The floor of the new chamber is solid, and air is introduced from the sides. The inlets consist of openings from ducts immediately under the side galleries, and the inlets for the upper portion of the House are through apertures at the sides near roof level. The vitiated air is extracted through apertures in the roof, supplemented by additional extracts near the floor. The floor of the new House has exactly the same dimensions as that in the old chamber, but a longer roof gives better proportion. No air raid shelters have been provided.