SIR GEORGE JENKLNSONasked the First Commissioner of Works, If it is with the approval and consent of Her Majesty's Government that the structure erected exactly opposite the opening to the Embankment from Charing Cross has been put up, entirely obstructing the view of the river; and, if so, on what conditions, and whether it is to be a permanent erection, and if any more such erections are to be permitted to be built on the Embankment, or along the parapet of it?
LORD HENRY LENNOXSir, the Question put to me by my hon. Friend consists of three distinct heads. First, my hon. Friend wishes to know if a certain structure now rising on the Thames Embankment was erected with the approval and consent of Her Majesty's Government? To that I may reply that no such consent was asked for, inasmuch as Her Majesty's Government have no jurisdiction over the Thames Embankment. The second part refers to the conditions under which this structure has been erected, and it is unnecessary for me to point out to my hon. Friend that this part of the Question would have been more conveniently addressed to the 1237 hon. and gallant Member who is Chairman of the Metropolitan Board of Works (Sir James Hogg); but he, being unable to be present, has, with his usual courtesy, authorized me to inform my hon. Friend that the licence for the erection of the structure in question was restricted to a period of one year, and the agreement provides that the Metropolitan Board have power at any time to revoke the licence, especially if it should prove a nuisance or injury to the Embankment. With regard to the third part of the Question, whether any more such erections are to be permitted to be built on the Embankment or along the parapet of it, my hon. and gallant Friend the Chairman of the Metropolitan Board does not feel himself justified in dealing in such a spirit of prophecy as would enable me to give any definite assurance on this subject to the House of Commons.