HC Deb 31 May 1883 vol 279 cc1326-7
MR. BROADHURST

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department, Whether the Report of the Royal Commission on the City of London Livery Companies is likely to be presented to Parliament before this Session closes, considering it was appointed nearly three years ago, and the evidence having been closed some time since?

SIR WILLIAM HARCOURT

Yes, Sir; the Report will be presented during the present Session.

MR. BROADHURST

asked the Vice President of the Council, Whether his attention has been called to the evidence given before the Royal Commission on the City Livery Companies, by which it appears that property in the City of Westminster of the estimated value of £17,000 per annum belonging to a charity school in the control of which the Corporation of the City of London have an interest has been for the last 25 years and is lying idle and waste; and, whether he would consider if the cost of elementary education in the City of Westminster could not be wholly defrayed out of such property without necessitating any contribution by rate if such charitable property was utilised?

MR. MUNDELLA

Sir, I have inquired of the Charity Commissioners as to the statement in the first paragraph of my hon. Friend's Question. They report that the Evidence given before the City Liveries Commission is not yet published, and that they have no knowledge of any School or charity in Westminster possessed of unrealized property to anything like the amount stated. The United Westminster Schools, of which some members of the Corporation are Governors, own considerable property in or near Victoria Street, which, under the sanction of the Charity Commissioners, is being gradually disposed of by sales and leases. More than £50,000 worth of land has been sold since 1876, and a portion of 19,800 square feet is about to be leased for 80 years at £600 a-year, and was advertised in The Times of the 11th instant. Whatever may be the increased income derivable from these sources, it will not be applicable to the payment of the School Board rates of Westminster, but for the development of the present schools and the higher education of children who ought to be benefited by this endowment.