§ MR. J. ROWLANDS (Finsbury, E.)asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department, Whether the Government intend to take prompt action to secure the carrying out of the recommendation of the Royal Commission on the Housing of the Working Classes, that the prison sites mentioned in their 770 Report be utilized for the erection of artizans' dwellings?
§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE (Mr. MATTHEWS) (Birmingham, E.)I informed the hon. Member, in reply to a somewhat similar Question which he addressed to me last Session, that, having in view the recommendation he refers to, I had offered these sites to the Metropolitan Board of Works, who, however, did not then see their way to purchasing them for the purpose of erecting artizans' dwellings. It consequently became my duty to try and dispose of the sites, having two ends in view—namely, that the sites should be sold for a fair price approved of by the Treasury, and that they should be utilized for the benefit of the neighbourhood and of the industrial classes. I have within the last few days received offers for the purchase of the larger site—Coldbath Fields—which are now under consideration, and which I hope may result in the accomplishment of these two ends.