MR. BRYNMOR JONES (Swansea District)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) whether he is aware that the Kingswinford Inclosure Act (24 Geo. 3, c. 18) made provision that copies of the map annexed to the award of the Commissioners, showing the common lands allotted under the Act, should be deposited in the parish church of Kingswinford, in the county of Stafford, and in one of Her Majesty's Courts of Record at Westminster; (2) whether he is aware that the copy of the map deposited in the said parish church has disappeared, and that the copy of the map deposited in one of Her Majesty's Courts at Westminster, though duly transferred to the Record Office and duly indexed there, can no longer be found, and that the sole copy now remaining is in the hands of the lord of the manor of Kingswinford (Lord Dudley); (3) whether he is aware that, owing to the subsidence of the soil at Quarry Bank, in the said parish, caused by mining operations, there are disputes pending between the lord of the said manor and divers other persons which render access to the said map necessary; and (4) whether, under these circumstances, he can see his way to having a certified copy of the said map made and deposited in the Record office?
§ * THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE HOME DEPARTMENT (Sir MATTHEW WHITE RIDLEY, Lancashire, Blackpool)The statements in the first two paragraphs of the Question are, I understand not altogether accurate; as regards the third, I have no information. The matter is not one in which I have any power to interfere, but Lord Dudley's solicitors inform me that until last week no application was made for the production of Lord Dudley's map, that they at once allowed it to be inspected and that they have also undertaken to furnish a copy of it.