§ MR. KIMBER (Wandsworth)asked the Secretary of State for War, Whether land (about 55 acres), part of 547 Wandsworth Common, was given to the Royal Commissioners of the Patriotic Fund for the purposes of the asylum, since erected thereon, to afford a visible and permanent memorial of the national generosity which provided the means for its foundation; and was enclosed from the Common without any equivalent or compensation to those enjoying right over the Common; whether the Royal Commissioners have recently admitted that a portion (about 20 acres) of the land is not required for the purposes of the asylum, and have leased the same, as a market garden, to a contractor for public works, who, by an extensive vehicular traffic, has for some months past done grievous damage to the existing portion of the open Common reserved for purposes of exercise and recreation under the provisions of "The Wandsworth Common Act, 1871;" whether any offer of such land was made to the Wandsworth Common Conservators; and, in what manner the advertisement of their intended letting of the ground, referred to on page 8 of the last Report of the Commissioners, was published; and, why no notice thereof was given to the Conservators?
§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE (Mr. E. STANHOPE) (Lincolnshire, Horncastle)The land on Wandsworth Common was not given to the Commissioners of the Patriotic Fund; but was purchased by them from the lord of the manor at a substantial price. The Commissioners have recently leased about 20 acres of their estate to a market gardener; but this is not, in reality, any variation from the original object for which the Commissioners held the ground. That object was to produce vegetables for consumption in the boys' and girls' schools, and to instruct the boys in the art of gardening. But the boys' school was given up, and it was found that the ground was cultivated at a loss. By the present arrangement the vegetables are obtained from the tenant, and there has been so great a gain that the Commissioners have been enabled to maintain seven more beds. As regards the increase of traffic across the Common an action at law is now pending; and my hon. Friend will understand, therefore, that I cannot express any opinion upon it. The letting of the ground was publicly advertised in The Times newspaper of June 19, 1885, and also in 548 The Gardener's Chronicle and in The Agricultural Gazette.