MR. RYDERasked the honourable Member for Truro, Whether it is true that differences between the Metropolitan Board of Works and the City authorities prevent the completion of the new road, and the removal of the hoarding in front of the Royal Hotel at the end of the Blackfriars corner of the Thames Embankment; and, if so, whether those differences cannot be settled by arbitration, so that the public may gain the advantage of the completion of the road; and, if the above reason is not the true one, whether he will state why the road remains uncompleted?
§ SIR. JAMES M'GAREL-HOGG,in reply, said, the completion of the new road and the removal of the hoarding in front of the Royal Hotel were not prevented by any differences between the Metropolitan Board of Works and the City authorities. He might add that many months since, the heads of agreement were settled between the Corporation, the Metropolitan Board, the Commissioners of Sewers, and the Metropolitan District Railway Company, which dealt with this and other questions. As the widening of the roadway would interfere with the structure of the railway, it became necessary to prepare detailed plans of the work. Those plans had been forwarded to the City authorities, who conducted the negotiations with the Railway Company; and he had every reason to believe that they would shortly be approved by the Company, and then arrangements could be made for the removal of the hoarding.