§ MR. THOMAS HENRY BOLTON (St. Pancras, N.)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether the Midland Railway Company have laid before him any scheme for re-housing of the working class population at Somers Town, evicted, or in course of eviction (to the number of 2,300), under "The Midland Railway Act, 1890;" and, if so, whether he will supply particulars of such scheme to the Vestry of St. Pancras, representing the public in the locality, and whether he will take care that the Company, in acquiring the property with vacant possession, do not evade the obligation imposed on them by Parliament of erecting as many new working class dwellings in the locality as the number of like dwellings pulled down for railway traffic requirements?
§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE HOME DEPARTMENT (Mr. MATTHEWS, Birmingham, E.)I have not yet received such a scheme, but I am informed by the directors of the Company that they have given instructions for the preparation of a scheme in accordance with the 33rd section of the Act quoted, which will in due course be submitted for my approval. The intervention of the Local Authority is not contemplated by the Statute, but I shall be happy to receive any observations from the Vestry which they may think material. I have no reason whatever to believe that the Company intend to evade 891 their obligations, and the hon. Member may rest assured that the duties imposed on me by Statute will not be disregarded; but I may point out that the Statute does not make obligatory the erection of the same number of dwellings as are pulled down. The number of dwellings to be erected is governed by various considerations mentioned in the Statute.