§ MR. PEASEasked the First Commissioner of "Works, What is the object of the mounds of earth now being erected on the south side of the Serpentine; and, if he will state to the House what will be the cost of the mounds when completed and planted?
LORD HENRY LENNOXIn answer to the Question of the hon. Member for South Durham, I beg to inform him that what he calls "mounds of earth" will 1715 shortly be turfed and planted with flowering and other shrubs. The total cost of these shrubberies was stated at page 9 of last year's Estimates, but as the item probably escaped the notice of the hon. Member, I may as well tell him that the total cost was estimated at £750, of which £400 has been already voted, and the remaining moiety of £350 appears at page 9 of the Estimates now before the House. The object of these shrubberies being placed there was to meet a very general complaint made to me and in the Press that ladies riding and walking in Rotten Row were greatly annoyed by the abundant display of "nude bathers," who during the summer evenings disport themselves in great numbers on the banks of the Serpentine.