§ MR. GILLIAT (Clapham)asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department, Whether he is aware that the public meeting held at Button, on Thursday 1st September, to consider the question of the acceptance by Sutton of the offer of the Battersea Burial Board, with regard to the Rose Hill Park Cemetery, was duly convened by the Chairman of the Sutton Local Board, and that at such meeting the principal opponents of the offer were present; whether these opponents, though repeatedly called on by the Chairman to speak, did not do so, and that the meeting, being fully representative, open, and attended by upwards of 400 people, resolved to accept the offer of Battersea, with only nine dissentients; whether, having regard to the decided and practically unanimous voice of Sutton in favour of such offer, and the urgent and pressing requirements of a large district like Battersea, he will now give his consent to the establishment of the cemetery on the Rose Hill Park site; and, if not, when his decision may be anticipated; and, whether he is prepared to state the reasons that are delaying a conclusion being arrived at upon a matter of such great importance to the well-being of the community?
§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE (Mr. MATTHEWS) (Birmingham, E.)I have received statements absolutely contradictory as to the representative character and composition of the meeting in question. I am doing my best to arrive at the truth, and the endeavour has delayed my decision, which, however, I hope to be able to give before long.