§ MR. LAWSON (St. Pancras, W.)asked the right hon. Baronet the Member for South-West Essex, Whether the attention of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners has been drawn to an indignation meeting of the members of the Excelsior Club, Shirland Road, Paddington, and others, to protest against—
The action of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners who have given legal notice of their intention to immediately evict the members and close the club, under a pretext that the land on which the club premises are built was not let for the purposes of a club but for a private house;whether 39 residents only in the locality are against the general opinion of their 549 neighbours; and, if he can state the grounds on which this action has been, taken?
§ SIR HENRY SELWIN-IBBETSON (Essex, Epping)The Commissioners tad not, until this Notice in Parliament, any knowledge of the incident referred to, nor, indeed, of the existence of the Excelsior Club. The premises constitute part of the "Paddington Estate," which is hold on a perpetually renewable lease under a Private Act of Parliament passed in 1795, and the lessees have the general management of the property.