With permission, Mr. Speaker, I should like to make the following statement. I have now been able to examine, with my colleagues, the possibilities of marking the Centenary of the Great Exhibition of 1851 by some national display in addition to the British Industries Fair. My right hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, as President of the Board of Trade, said on 28th March that in spite of the difficulties then foreseen methods could undoubtedly be found involving relatively little new construction work outside the programme already in course of planning, and that he was examining whether some progress towards the building of a permanent centre for the British Industries Fair could not be achieved in time for the Centenary.

It is now clear that under the revised investment programme no new construction work, for such purposes, can be undertaken for 1951. Nevertheless, the Government feel that it would not be right on this account to abandon the celebration of the Centenary, and we, therefore, propose to mark it by a national display illustrating the British contribution to civilisation, past, present and future, in the Arts, in science and technology, and in industrial design. My right hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, is, therefore, inviting the Arts Council of Great Britain to make arrangements, in association with other bodies concerned, for a Festival of the Arts in 1951. The Festival would not be confined to London, and provision will be made to link up with it existing ventures in Edinburgh and elsewhere, and to encourage new ones. Wales, for example, must play its part. The Festival will include events in music and drama, opera and ballet, together with exhibitions of painting, sculpture and photography.

Separate consideration will be given in due course to arrangements covering architecture and town planning in its design aspects; books, and the showing of notable British films, including documentaries. Besides the Festival, there will be two major national exhibitions. My right hon. Friend, the President of the Board of Trade, is inviting the. Council of Industrial Design to sponsor a first-rate design display which will include consumer goods, civil transport, certain classes of capital goods and some handicraft production, and some displays showing the historical development of some industries.

I am arranging for an Exhibition of British achievements in science and technology to be organised by the Central Office of Information on behalf of the Research Councils and other scientific bodies. Both the Festival and the Exhibitions will be held in existing buildings. Provision will be made for co-ordination between these projects. They will cover, at a national level, the field of the 1851 Exhibition and will, I believe, mark its Centenary as worthily as our resources will allow.