§ MR. NORRIS (Towor Hamlets, Limehouse)asked the First Commissioner of Works, If his attention has been called to the disgraceful scenes which are reported to have lately taken place in Regent's Park; if he will define the nature of the control and supervision of his Department, and state if the roads commonly known as the Inner and Outer Circle are within his jurisdiction, or under the jurisdiction of the police; if there are two separate Commissioners, termed the Paving Commissioners, one having authority over the outer gates by day, and the other by night; and who appoints the gatekeepers at those gates; and, if he will also state by whom those Commissioners are nominated, and by whom are their duties defined, and if they, or his Department, or the police, are responsible for the supervision of the grass land between Gloucester Gate, and the North Gate, where acts of misbehaviour are of frequent occurrence?
§ THE FIRST COMMISSIONER (Mr. PLUNKET) (Dublin University)I am advised that the whole of Regent's Park is by statute placed under the management of the Office of Works, and that the park-keepers and the Metropolitan police have within the limits of the park the same rights, duties, and responsibilities. Practically, the enclosed portions of the Park are placed under the control of park-keepers, who are responsible for the public peace within the enclosures; whereas the roads are patrolled by the Metropolitan police, who are responsible for the public peace upon those roads, and also upon the portions of the grass land between Gloucester Gate and the North Gate, which have not been up to the present enclosed. The Commissioners of Works appoint gatekeepers, who are on duty during the daytime at the outer gates; and, by an arrangement with the Paving Commissioners (which has been in operation since 1851), the latter supply night watchmen for duty at night. The Paving Commissioners are, I believe, 1406 appointed under the Crown Estate Paving Act, 1851. They have no authority or responsibility as to the preservation of the peace. I have been considering whether by an improved system of lighting the Inner and Outer Circle roads, or by any other means, order can be better preserved upon those roads; and I shall place myself in communication with Sir Charles Warren on the subject.