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THIS DOCUMENT IS THE PROPERTY OF HIS BRITANNIC MAJESTY'S GOVERNMENT)
CONFIDENTIAL
C.P.(51) 142
24TH MAY, 1951
CABINET
COPY NO. 31
31
MEMORIAL TO FIELD MARSHAL SMUTS
Memorandum by the Prime Minister
I have been approached by the Leaders of the Conservative and Liberal Farties with a request that the Government should take the lead in erecting a Memorial to Field Marshal Smuts.
2.
I am in agreement with this view. Smuts had been the out- standing Commonwealth Statesman for the past thirty years and his services to the Commonwealth in peace and war put him in a very special position. There is not, I think, any danger of creating an
undesirable precedent.
3
There is already under way a proposal for endowing a Chair, at Cambridge, of Commonwealth Studies, the funds for which would be raised by a public appeal supported by the Leaders of the main political parties and other men in public life.
4.
It is suggested that a statue should be erected at Government expense in Parliament Square. There is a suitable site between the statues of Lincoln and Canning.
5.
It would probably be desirable to set up a special Committee to deal with the choice of sculptor, etc.
6.
If the Cabinet agrees with this proposal I would make a Statement in the House at an early date.
7.
The Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Secretary of State for Commonwealth Relations and the Minister of Works have been consulted and are in general agreement with this proposal.
10, Downing Street, S.W.1,
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24TH MAY, 1951.
C.R.A.
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G.R.