SECOND READING. (Hansard, 8 May 1866)

§ MR. TITE
rose to move that the Bill be read a second time this day six months. The site which the Company now occupied in Bethnal Green had never, he believed, been sanctioned by legislative enactment; but they had power to hold lands in the parish of Bow, close to Victoria Park; and they had twice sought to obtain legislative power to establish and increase their Works at that point. Last year, after considerable discussion, a Bill passed that House, but was thrown out in the House 579 of Lords. That Bill was opposed by the Metropolitan Board of Works, and probably their opposition contributed to throw out the Bill in the other House. Under the present Bill the Company sought power to obtain 100 acres of land, and to establish enormous gas works in that district. The Bill was opposed very generally by the inhabitants, and especially by the Metropolitan Board, on the ground of the injury which would be done by the Works to the Victoria Park. The Victoria Park consisted of 240 acres, beautifully disposed, in the midst of a very crowded and poor district. It had cost £72,000 of public money, and the Metropolitan Board had laid out £20,000 in forming a road from Lime-house to it. He did not know any thing of the kind more useful, or, in a moderate way, more elegant than Victoria Park. It was quite a credit to the metropolis. The Gas Works would encroach on the north and east side of the Park, and would he fatal to the salubrity and usefulness of a place which had become a very favourite resort for health and recreation to the district around. He thought a site might be found on the low-lying lands further down the river which would be comparatively unobjectionable on public grounds; hut that proposed in this Bill would, to a very large and crowded district, be a serious annoyance and nuisance. He understood that the area had been limited in the House of Lords to thirty-seven acres, in addition to the twenty-seven the Company now possessed; but even that extent of Works would enable them to create all the nuisance which the neighbourhood apprehended. It was also stipulated that the Works should not be erected within 300 yards of Victoria Park. That would be about the distance of Charles Street from the place where they were now sitting, and what would hon. Members say if it were proposed to erect great Gas Works so near the House of Commons? He begged to move that the Bill be read a second time that day six months.

§ LORD JOHN MANNERS
begged leave to second the Amendment. He was glad to find that if the inhabitants of the districts surrounding the Victoria Park were deprived on that occasion of the advocacy of their more natural guardian, the First Commissioner of Works, the hon. Gentleman the Member for Bath (Mr. Tite) had stood forward on the part of the Metropolitan Board of Works as the vindicator of 580 what he must call the rights of the people. He objected altogether to treat this as a Private Bill—it involved a great principle of public policy. In 1852, the Legislature had put an end to intramural interment on the ground of the public health; and when such a measure as this, involving the same consideration to a great extent, came before them for the second reading, the House had a right to consider whether it involved a violation of this principle or not. Now he (Lord John Manners) objected to the erection of great gas works within 300 or 400 yards of a place of public resort and recreation as a nuisance. He, therefore, objected to the Bill in limine, and upon principle. In Paris gas works were placed without the boundaries of the city. What would be the feeling of hon. Members if they were told that a gas works which would produce 17,000,000 cubic feet of gas per diem was to be erected in Charles Street; or would such a thing be tolerated within 300 yards of Hyde Park? He thought hon. Members would be very loud in their protestations against sanctioning such a measure. Then why should they impose on the East End of London what they knew in their hearts they would refuse at the West End? Having regard to every consideration of public policy, good feeling, and respect for the inhabitants—having regard also to the large sum of public money which had been expended for their recreation in the East End of London, he called on the House to support the Amendment and reject this Bill.

§ MR. BERESFORD HOPE
was anxious to say a few words in opposition to the Bill, as he held in his hands a petition signed in Victoria Park by the Rector of Bethnal Green and over 700 frequenters of the Park against the proposal. Referring, as it did, to a Private Bill, he was prevented by Standing Orders from laying it on the table of the House, but he appealed to it in defence of the opposition he was offering. He had spent the morning of Saturday on an ash-heap, by the River Lea, surveying the ground which the Company desired to usurp, and he had spent that morning in one 581 of their gas works to realize the extent of the nuisance which gas-making produced. From the inspection of this gas work, which only made 2,000,000 cubic feet a day, while the proposed one at Victoria Park was to make 17,000,000, he had drawn his own decided conclusions. The new works of the Imperial Company were to he close to the Victoria Park Cricket-ground, which was peculiarly thronged. How would they like gas works, making 17,000,000 feet, a day, 300 yards from Rotten Row? He believed that the argument of the Gas Company was, that if they did not get the ground some other nuisances would. Well, all similar nuisances ought to be impartially put down within the limits of the capital. The time, in fact, had come, when it was necessary to consider on broad principles the condition of London as a place of residence and business, and not as a mere factory. If the first blow was not to be struck, and if the perpetuation of the evil in the permanent and gigantic form of such gas works was not to be put an end to, they never hereafter would have standing ground when they tried to abate the general mischief.

§ MR. COWPER
thought the Government should be careful not to interfere unnecessarily with the course of private Business; and the House ought not on the second reading to reject a Private Bill unless some important principle were involved. It was a question of public policy whether they ought to sanction the further erection of gas works in the neighbourhood of dwelling-houses? He (Mr. Cowper) thought it a grievance to the inhabitants to have a factory of this kind placed immediately in their vicinity. The peculiarity of the case was the gigantic size of the works. The noble Lord had said that gas works would not be tolerated near St. James' Park. Had he forgotten the works in Horseferry Road, within 400 yards of that House, and neither in St. James' Park nor in that House had any evil effects been experienced. Looking to the enormous extent of the proposed works, he did not see how it was possible to secure adequate protection by clauses, and in order to prevent the risks apprehended by many who were competent to form an opinion, he should oppose the Bill.

§ MR. STANILAND
said, he was not disposed to press the second reading of the Bill, so far as it related to the erection of buildings in the neighbourhood of the Victoria Park; but there was a second portion 582 relating to the raising of capital, and Parliament having imposed on the Company the obligation of supplying a very large district with gas, he hoped there would be no objection to proceeding with that part of the Bill, he undertaking that all the clauses relating to works should be struck out, and the Company would endeavour to find a fit site for their works elsewhere, He hoped on that understanding the Amendment would be withdrawn.

§ MR. BRADY
trusted that sufficient security for the public convenience would be taken if the Bill were read a second time.

§ MR. AYRTON
thought that after what had been stated by the hon. Member for Boston (Mr. Staniland), the Bill might be allowed to proceed. The best course would be to send this Bill before the General Committee upstairs.

§ SIR JOHN TROLLOPE
said, that that Committee had not power to examine witnesses upon oath, which made a serious difference when a Bill was likely to be strongly contested, and therefore he objected to the Bill being so referred.

§ MR. ALDERMAN LAWRENCE
hoped that equal justice would be meted out to the dwellers in the East and West of London. Victoria Park was peculiarly the people's Park, to which the hard-worked artizans of the thickly-peopled neighbourhoods resorted with their wives and children to obtain health and recreation, and their comfort and welfare ought to be carefully guarded.

§ MR. PAULL
said, that it had been argued that wherever gas works had been established they were a nuisance to the neighbourhood; but it was remarkable that there had been no complaint against the City Gas Company as producing a nuisance in the neighbourhood of their works. He thought that after the concession which had been made by the hon. Member who had charge of the Bill, it should be read a second time, and that an opportunity should be afforded to make proper inquiry as to its merits.

§ MR. HANBURY
said, that the works were so placed that every north and east wind would blow the sulphurated hydrogen across the Park. He trusted, for the sake of the people using the Park as a place of recreation on Sundays, the House would reject the Bill.

§ MR. DODSON
hoped that, considering the manifest feeling of the House, the hon. Member (Mr. Staniland) would not press the second reading to a division. The hon. 583 Member had stated that the Bill was divided into two parts, one referring to the construction of works, and the other to the raising of capital, and he was willing to withdraw the former. The House, however, would naturally feel a curiosity to know what the capital was needed for if the works were abandoned. If capital was wanted for other purposes than the construction of the works proposed, it would be open to the promoters to petition the House for leave to bring in a Bill for this special purpose.

§ MR. STANILAND
said, he should not press his Motion.