§ MR. SCULLYsaid, he rose to ask the First Commissioner of Works, Has his attention been called to the Report of the Referees on the Piccadilly and Park Lane New Road Bill, and has he given a "distinct intimation" that a portion of the Crown Land, valued at £6,577, will be given up to the Metropolitan Board of Works without any payment?
MR. COWPERsaid, in reply, that no obstacle had been thrown in the way of the scheme of the Metropolitan Board of Works on the part of the Crown as regarded the rights of the Crown in the Park. It was true that the Metropolitan Board of Works had, from motives of economy, preferred the inferior plan of prolonging the narrow street to the better plan of widening Park Lane, and thus providing for the use of the public a broad and spacious thoroughfare. Yet he thought the Board deserved all credit for having recognized the responsibility that rested on them of doing something to remove the extraordinary inconvenience of the present state of Park Lane. It was, therefore, intimated to the Metropolitan Board of Works, that if they succeeded in passing this Bill through both Houses of Parliament, they would receive the consent of the Crown to their making a road through Hamilton Gardens, which is a portion of the Park. If the hon. Member had read the Report of the Referees he would have seen that the legal estate in land had not been given to the Board but was retained in the Crown.