§ MR. J. ROWLANDS (Finsbury, E.)asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department, What steps are being taken to carry out the provisions of the Housing of the Working Classes (England) Act, by erecting dwellings on the site of the House of Correction, Coldbath Fields?
§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE (Mr. MATTHEWS) (Birmingham, E.)The Housing of the Working Classes (England) Act, 1885, as amended in Committee of this House, contains no provisions (such as was contained in the original Bill) for the erection of dwellings on the site of Coldbath Fields Prison. The Home Department have taken the only steps in their power. They have offered the site (as they were bound to do under the Prisons Act, 1877) to the County Justices, who have declined to purchase it. They have since 1076 offered to sell the site to the Metropolitan Board of Works, who have also refused to purchase. It now rests with the Home Secretary to sell this site as best he can; and in so doing I shall endeavour, if possible, to make arrangements under which the land may be utilized for the benefit of the labouring classes, either by the erection of dwellings or the creation of open spaces.