§ MR. BRYCEasked the Chairman of the Metropolitan Board of Works, Whether the Board have considered the desirability of making on the small piece of land which they propose to acquire, fronting the River Thames, in the Isle of Dogs, for the purposes of their contemplated steam ferries, a recreation ground available for the inhabitants of that district, having regard to the fact that there is a great want of open spaces available for the recreation of the poorer classes in that part of London, and also to the fact that a society is willing to bear the expense of laying out the ground as a place of recreation if the Board will allow it to remain unbuilt on?
§ SIR JAMES M'GAREL-HOGGIn reply to my hon. and learned Friend, I beg to state that the Board has considered the matter referred to in his Question; but, in the first place, the Bill which now stands referred to a Select Committee 969 does not empower the Board to appropriate the land in question for the formation of a recreation ground; and, in the second place, the proposition to devote it to that purpose appears to assume that the Board will purchase the whole of the land up to the limits of deviation, which is extremely doubtful. Moreover, the area would be very small even if the Board's proposed powers were exercised to the utmost, and would only amount to a little over an acre, divided into two portions by the approach to the steamboat pier. Under these circumstances, the Board has not felt itself in a position to entertain the suggestion made to it by the society alluded to by my hon. and learned Friend; but I can assure him that any fresh representation on so important a subject shall be fully considered.