DR. CAMERONasked the Lord Advocate, Whether it is true that a district 1420 in Leith, purchased with the aid of £100,000 borrowed four years since from the Imperial Exchequer under the Artizans' Dwellings (Scotland) Act, has been let by the Leith Corporation to proprietors of shows, rifle ranges, merry-go-rounds, and gambling establishments; whether numerous complaints have been made through the Leith newspapers that the place is a public nuisance; whether the School Board has protested against the application of the area to such purposes, on the ground of the demoralization caused to schoolchildren, whom its attractions induce, to play truant and misappropriate their school fees; whether the Town Council have memorialized the Home Secretary to relieve them of the obligation to erect houses for the working classes, and whether they base their application on the allegation that there are a large number of unlet workmen's houses in the burgh; and, whether, considering the purpose for which the £100,000 was advanced, the Leith Corporation cannot be compelled either to feu the ground for the purpose for which it was acquired, or to dispose of it and repay the loan?
THE LORD ADVOCATE (Mr. J. B. BALFOUR)I am informed that the cleared portion of the ground has been till lately let for shows as a temporary source of revenue; but that it has not been let for gambling establishments. Complaints have appeared in the Leith newspapers in regard to the condition of the place, and the School Board have called attention to the shows, and urged their removal. The Town Council have memorialized the Home Secretary to relieve them either wholly or partially of the obligation to erect houses for the working classes, basing their application on the allegation, inter alia, that there are many unlet workmen's houses in the burgh. With respect to the last part of the Question, the municipal authorities of Leith say that they cannot at present obtain offers for the ground.