§ SIR H. DRUMMOND WOLFFasked the First Commissioner of Works, Whether he intends to place gravel for equestrians on the road from Hyde Park Corner to the Marble Arch?
§ MR. GERARD NOELSir, the answer to my hon. Friend the Member for Christchurch is a very simple one. I stopped the gravel being put down between the Marble Arch and Hyde Park Corner because I had received numerous and earnest complaints from ladies who do not ride, but walk between the Marble Arch and Rotten Row, that they had been bespattered with dirt from head to foot by persons galloping backwards and forwards. Sir, this is hardly fair. The persons who walk in the Park must be considered as well as those who ride. The equestrians are well provided for, for they have the whole of Rotten Row, also the ride opposite the Knightsbridge Barracks, and from the Magazine along the north side of the Park, where they can gallop as much as they please. I hope, therefore, now my hon. Friends have my reasons for not putting down the gravel, they will cheerfully submit to ride at a reduced pace and allow the ladies to enjoy their shady walk without suffering inconvenience from the dirty gravel being splashed over their dresses. As I have been asked why the gravel was put down as far as Stanhope Gate and not continued to the Marble Arch, I may perhaps be permitted to say that this was done without my knowledge, and, once put down, I thought it hardly worth the expense of removing it; but it has not been renewed. I have only one object in view, and that is to make the Parks as agreeable and enjoyable as possible to everyone.