MR. JESSE COLLINS (Birmingham, Bordesley)asked the Vice President of the Committee of Council, Whether he is aware that the Trustees of Goodfellow's Charity, in the parish of Fifehead, Neville, in the county of Dorset, are offering for sale the land belonging to the Charity; that the labourers of the parish have made application to the Trustees to rent this land, according to the provisions of "The Allotments Extension Act, 1882;" that the labourers have formally protested against the proposed sale, as a violation of the Act of 1882, which instructs the Trustees to offer the land for allotments; and, whether the Charity 377 Commissioners will request the Trustees to stop the sale until an inquiry has been made into the circumstances of the case?
§ THE VICE PRESIDENT (Sir HENRY HOLLAND) (Hampstead)It is true that the trustees have applied to the Commissioners for their sanction to the sale of five acres of land belonging to Good-fellow's Charity, and the Commissioners directed the publication of the usual notices for eliciting any objection to the sale. So far as the Commissioners are aware the labourers have not directly applied to the trustees, as a body, to rout the land in allotments. The Commissioners have received from the labourers several protests against the sale; but it is not asserted in any of them that the proposed sale is a violation of the Act of 1882. No order of the Board, without which the sale cannot proceed, will be made until the circumstances of the case have been further inquired into, and. if necessary, by an Inspector.