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65
site, including Crawford Place ; the block of houses
in Hard wick Street, Garnault Place and Rosoman
Street; and the cleared ground on the south side
of Rosebery Avenue, between Lloyd's Row and
Rydon Crescent. Having regard to all the circumstances,
the Vestry decided that a communication
be made to the County Council, calling their special
attention to the St. James' Churchyard site and
the Rosebery Avenue site, as being, in the opinion
of the Yestry, the two most desirable for the expenditure
of the sum in question.
Gallery of British Art.—Referring to the statement
in last year's report on the action taken by
the Yestry with the view of a central site being
selected for the proposed Gallery of British Art, to
be given by an anonymous donor to the Government,
it will be remembered that the Chancellor of
the Exchequer replied that the offer was conditional
inter alia, on the adoption of the South Kensington
site, and that, therefore, the Government had not
a free choice in the matter. This condition,
however, from its difficulty, had the result of the
offer being withdrawn. The Yestry of St. Saviour's,
Southwark, invited Delegates to a Conference in
April, 1892, to consider the advisability of taking
further steps to secure Mr. Tate's offer (the name
of the donor having then transpired), either by
Deputation to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, or
the County Council, or in any other way which
might be deemed expedient. The Yestry appointed
Messrs. Robson, Sans, and Walton as their
Delegates, and they were gratified to learn in
January, 1893 that the Government had accepted
Mr. Tate's offer to present his collection of pictures
to the nation, and to build a Gallery for their
accommodation, and that the matter had been
satisfactorily settled.
E