MR. COWPERsaid, he wished to give notice of his intention to move for leave to bring in a Bill to limit the power vested in Metropolitan Vestry and District Boards, of permitting the erection of advertising or ornamental illuminated columns in the carriage way of the metropolis. He also wished to ask the First Commissioner of Public Works, whether his attention had been called to the practice of obstructing the streets by the erection of certain illuminated columns, of very hideous and sometimes ludicrous form, whereby great crowds were collected in those parts where they were most likely to be run over, and 589 great discredit was thrown on the metropolis in point of taste; and he also wanted to know whether it was the intention of the right hon. Gentleman to take any steps on the subject, legislative or otherwise, to remove or prevent this outrage on the good taste and common sense of the metropolis. If that was the intention of the right hon. Gentleman, he would not proceed with the notice which he had given.
MR. FITZROYreplied, that his attention as that of the public, certainly had been attracted to the curious structure erected near Apsley-house, but he had no more control over such erections than any other hon. Member. He believed that the vestrymen of the parish in which he had the honour to reside were the real culprits. He understood that a French company had recently proposed to set up these columns as a new mode of advertising, and he was afraid that a great many applications had been granted by the authorities of metropolitan parishes for the erection of these structures in different parts. The only way to deal with the matter was to proceed in the way pointed out by the right hon. Gentleman, and he thought he could not do better than leave it entirely in his hands.