CAPTAIN GROSVENORsaid, he would beg to ask Mr. Chancellor of the Exchequer, Whether the Lords of the Treasury concur in so much of the Forty-seventh Report of the Commissioners of Her Majesty's Woods and Forests and Land Revenues, presented to Parliament June 29th, 1869, as recommends building upon property belonging to Her Majesty upon the Thames Embankment, to the extent of 2 acres 2 roods 19 poles, or whether arrangements will be made to deal with this portion of Crown property in the same manner as the remainder of the site acquired by the Metropolitan Board of Works is dealt with in the Thames Embankment Act, by which Act such remainder is set apart in perpetuity for purposes of public recreation?
§ THE CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUERSir, eleven acres of land below high water-mark, belonging to the Crown, were taken for the purposes of the Embankment. Of those 11 acres the Crown has retained 5½ acres, but it has received no compensation for the remainder. We do concur with the recommendation in the Report of the Commissioners that buildings should be erected on 2½ acres of the 5½ acres, the property of the Crown. I do not think it would be right to lay out in gardens so valuable a plot when it may be de- 177 voted to buildings and produce money which may be applied in relief of taxation.