§ VISCOUNT PALMERSTONsaid he wished to ask a question of the noble Lord the Chief Commissioner of Works, of width he had not given notice; but as it related to a matter respecting which he had had private communication with the noble Lord some time ago, he had no doubt the noble Lord would be able to give him an answer one way or the other. He would like to know when it was the intention of the noble Lord to remove those abominable iron 2375 hurdles which now disfigured the parks, and prevented the people of the metropolis from the free enjoyment of them, although they were maintained at the public expense simply for the public recreation. His right hon. Friend the late Chief Commissioner had assured him that they would be removed last spring, and he had understood from the noble Lord (Lord J. Manners) that he also intended to remove them. But there they are still, and there they appeared likely to remain, so far as he could see, until the iron had disappeared by the process of time. Meanwhile the public are precluded from that power of free expatiation over their own parks which is essential to their health and amusement. Perhaps the noble Lord will say that the object of those hurdles is to prevent the people from walking over the grass; but he (Viscount Palmerston) did not know for what purpose the grass was there, except to be walked upon. If it were to be kept for the purpose of being looked at only, it ceased to have the advantage it was intended to confer upon the population. He wished to know, therefore, when the noble Lord intends taking the people of the metropolis out of irons, so far as related to the parks.
§ LORD JOHN MANNERSsaid, that having completed the removal of the hurdles from the whole of Hyde Park, the question of the noble Viscount must refer chiefly to the Green Park. It had been his intention to remove all the hurdles from that park also; but, unfortunately, as the noble Viscount was doubtless aware, there came a plague of obnoxious insects early in the spring which destroyed the grass in a very extraordinary manner, and in consequence it became necessary to enclose within iron hurdles all that portion of the park which had been so injured. He had great hopes, however, that the grass would soon recover; and he trusted that the noble Viscount would take the removal of the hurdles from Hyde Park as an earnest of his (Lord John Manners') desire to remove them also from the Green Park.