MR. BEYCEasked the Chairman of the Metropolitan Board of Works, Whether the attention of the Metropolitan Board of Works has been called to the importance of securing the woods to the north of Highgate as a public park for the benefit of the inhabitants of London; and, whether he can hold out hopes that a proper scheme for acquiring these woods will be favourably considered by the Board with a view to their taking a part in giving effect to it?
§ SIR JAMES M'GAREL-HOGGIn reply to my hon. Friend, I beg to inform him that the Metropolitan Board of Works is fully alive to the importance of preserving open spaces in the Metropolis and its neighbourhood; but Highgate Woods are out of the Board's jurisdiction, and would require to be dealt with under the powers of a special Act of Parliament. With regard to the latter part of the Question, I can only undertake to say that any scheme that may be submitted to the Board shall be 350 most carefully considered, with a full sense of the importance of the object in view.