MR. OTWAYsaid, be wished to ask the First Commissioner of Works a Question of which he had given private Notice. When Parliament re-assembled after the 1043 Easter holidays the usual access to the House was obstructed through a street having been broken up. On the eve of the "Derby" the access to the South-Western Railway was similarly obstructed in the Westminster Road. At present, Bond Street, Vere Street, and part of Oxford Street—to say nothing of Park Lane and many other thoroughfares—were also obstructed. He, therefore, wished to ask, Whether the attention of the Government has been called to these obstructions; by whom they are authorized; and whether any Department of the Government has power to prevent persons breaking up the thoroughfares at a time when London is full, and when it is most necessary that traffic should be unimpeded?
§ LORD JOHN MANNERS, in reply, said, he could only repeat the Answer he had given privately to the hon. Member, which was that the Government had nothing whatever to do with the management and control of the streets of the metropolis. The cost of the maintenance and repair of them was not defrayed out of moneys voted by Parliament, but out of rates levied upon ratepayers by local authorities. It was clear, therefore, that the management and control of the streets must be vested in the representatives of the ratepayers, who had to pay for the maintenance of them. Those representatives were the local authorities, and they, and not any Department of the Government were responsible for the state of the streets.