§ MR. KIMBER (Wandsworth)asked the First Commissioner of Works, Whether he will direct that the map of Richmond Park, now in the Tea Room, showing the site of the rifle ranges proposed by the National Rifle Association, may be exhibited on the hoarding in Westminster Hall, or other convenient place, for inspection by the public and 543 parties interested, together with a definite description of the proposed works and mode of dealing with the same, and the conditions which the Association offer to submit to as regards the use of the same, and as to the closing of the Park; whether he will give some limited time for the public and parties interested to show cause and state objections against the proposal before he reports to the Cabinet; whether, on reporting to the Cabinet, he will draw their attention to the question of whether there are or not, as alleged by H.R.H. the Commander-in-Chief, many other more appropriate places for the purpose; and, by what right the paddocks in Richmond Park are enclosed and the public excluded therefrom at all, and to what uses they are applied, and is there any reason why they should not be thrown into the Park proper, of which they form a part?
§ THE FIRST COMMISSIONER (Mr. PLUNKET) (Dublin University)I cannot agree with my hon. Friend that Westminster Hall would be a convenient place for exhibiting the map of Richmond Park now in the Tea Room, where, I think, it may well remain. I shall, with pleasure, lay on the Table of the House a copy of the latest application of the National Rifle Association. As to the second paragraph of the Question, I have already made a Report to the Cabinet; but I shall at any time be glad to confer with my hon. Friend upon the subject, and to send forward any further views he may have to suggest. As to the third paragraph, the question it raises is not one with which I have officially any right to interfere; and as to the last paragraph, the paddocks have always been reserved for the purpose of growing hay and roots for the use of the deer, and a discretion to keep them so enclosed is left to me by the Parks Regulation Act, 1873. I do not think it would be desirable to make any change in that respect at present.