§ LORD EUSTACE CECILasked the hon. and gallant Member for Truro, Whether, considering that Leicester Square has now been for several years under the control of the Metropolitan Board of Works, the Board has as yet come to any decision upon the best manner of laying out the ground; and, if not, what prospect there is, within a reasonable time, of the railings outside being repaired, and of the plot of ground inside being put in order?
§ MR. BOWRINGrose to a point of Order. Several complaints had been made, and he believed with reason, as to the practice which had grown up of late years, and was still increasing, of asking private Members, not Ministers, Questions connected with the position they held. Last year he was himself called upon to answer a Question of this nature, and out of a list of 13 Questions on the Paper to-day, two were addressed to the hon. and gallant Member for Truro (Colonel Hogg). He wished to ask whether this practice was in accordance with the Rules of the House?
§ MR. SPEAKERAccording to the strict Rules of the House such Questions are, no doubt, out of Order, because they do not relate to any Bill, Motion, or other subject-matter connected with the Business of the House. But it has been for many years the practice of this House to allow questions of public interest relating to the government of the metropolis to be addressed to members of the Metropolitan Board of Works, being Members of this House; and seeing that the Question proposed by the noble Lord is of public interest, I feel that I shall not be doing right in interposing to prevent him from asking the Question.
§ LORD EUSTACE CECILsaid, he should have been quite willing to address the Question to the First Commissioner of Works; but he understood that his hon. and gallant Friend preferred it being put to himself.
COLONEL HOGGobserved, that whenever any Member asked him a Question relating to the Metropolitan Board of Works he should be happy to answer it. In the present instance, the noble Lord was not quite accurate in assuming that Leicester Square had been under the control of the Board of Works during the last few years. It was believed that under the Act relating to gardens and enclosed spaces in towns they possessed such a control, and the Board accordingly took steps to put the Act in force; but proceedings were instituted against them, and in the case of "Tulk v. The Metropolitan Board of Works" (3 Law Report), it was decided that the Board could not deal with the Square as they desired. He was very sorry that the law had been so interpreted; but without further interference from Parliament, he did not see his way to remedy what he conceived to be a disgrace to the metropolis. The Board of Works had done all they possibly could in the matter. By the Central Railway Act of last Session, a street was authorised which would pass through part of Leicester Square, and on its completion it was probable that something might be done to remedy the present state of things.