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MR. J. BIGWOOD (Middlesex, Brentford) moved:—
That it be an Instruction to the Committee to consider whether it is desirable to insert any special provisions with a view to preserving for the use of the public the same quantity of open space as is defined and appropriated for such use by the Muswell Hill Act, 1866; and, if so, to insert such special provisions in the Bill.
He said that the Bill would confer further powers on the company. Among other objects, it was intended to enlarge the reservoir in the parish of Wood Green, and for this object it was proposed to take a certain number of acres of the Alexandra Park estate. It was with the view of maintaining this open space for the benefit of the public that he had placed this instruction on the Paper. The neighbourhood was growing very largely, and open spaces were more and more required for public recreation. The inhabitants of the locality looked to the House as the ultimate custodian of their rights, and it was the only opportunity they had of preventing from time to time those pieces of land and the rights and privileges attached to them from being frittered away. He trusted that the directors of the company would endeavour to meet his suggestions in the most honourable manner; but their difficulty had been to find out what to do. This accounted for the different forms in which his Instruction had appeared on the Paper. It was difficult to frame an Instruction that would be acceptable to all parties, but he thought that this Instruction as it now stood would not meet with any opposition.
§ Instruction agreed to.