§ COLONEL MAKINSasked the President of the Local Government Board, If it be a fact that application was made by the Asylums Board to the Government and the Metropolitan Board of Works for permission to place temporary Small Pox Hospitals on the vacant ground at Wormwood Scrubs; and, if so, whether such application was refused, and the grounds for such refusal?
§ MR. DODSONSir, no application of the above nature has been made to the Government or to the Metropolitan Board by the Asylums Board; but an application from the Fulham District Board of Works was made to the Metropolitan Board and refused, that Board stating that they had no power to grant the use of any portion of Wormwood Scrubs for the purpose. No specific grounds of refusal were stated; but Wormwood Scrubs appear to be vested in the Metropolitan Board of Works by the Wormwood Scrubs Act, 1879, upon trust for the perpetual use thereof by the inhabitants of the Metropolis for exercise and recreation grounds, subject to their use for military purposes; and it is presumed that it was considered that 26 under that Act there was no power to use any part of the land for a small-pox hospital.