§ SIR JOHN SHELLEYsaid, he wished to ask the First Commissioner of Works, When the houses left standing on the south side of Bridge Street are to be entirely removed, and whether or not arrangements have been made with the tenants in possession for giving up their interests; if not, what is the course the Office of Works intend to pursue with regard to that portion of the property?
MR. COWPER,in reply, said, that all the houses on the south side of Bridge Street would be cleared away before the close of next year. All the houses had been purchased, and agreements had been made with all the tenants except two—one of them being the leaseholder of Fendall's Hotel. This lease would expire next year, but inasmuch as the Hotel was a place of great resort during the sitting of Parliament, he was unwilling to put the persons using it to inconvenience by having it pulled down until it was required for the public service. It seemed right not to impose upon the public funds the necessity of paying the large compensation which might be awarded by a jury if the compulsory powers of the Act were put in force in this case. He had therefore not thought it necessary to apply the powers of the Act to this particular tenement.