HC Deb 14 March 1898 vol 54 cc1517-8
MR. H. C. STEPHENS (Middlesex, Hornsey)

I beg to ask the hon. Member for the Thirsk Division of the North Riding of Yorkshire, as representing the Charity Commissioners, whether the City Parochial Trustees have applied for an advance of £5,000 out of capital to enable them to build on the vacant land at Little Britain proposed to complete the Postmen's Park; whether he is aware that the land in question contains a large quantity of human remains, and that the work of excavation and removal came to a standstill because the workmen refused to dig out any more bones; whether the usual effort was made to ascertain the market value and to obtain a lessee for the site before the Trustees resolved themselves to build thereon; and whether, before agreeing to the advance of £5,000, the Commissioners will make full inquiry into the circumstances of the case?

THE PARLIAMENTARY CHARITY COMMISSIONER (Mr. J. GRANT LAWSON,) Yorkshire, N.R., Thirsk and Malton

The answer to the first and third paragraphs are in the affirmative, except that the amount of the advance applied for is £7,000. The Commissioners are aware that the land contains human remains. The work of excavation and removal came to a standstill, not for the reason alleged, but because the Trustees were restrained by interim injunction from proceeding with the work. This injunction was subsequently dissolved on the final hearing of the action, in which it was granted. The Commissioners are already fully in possession of the facts of the case, which has been under discussion for more than four years. The land in question was purchased as a building site out of the Trust Estate which the Trustees now represent, and was formerly occupied by buildings. It was determined, in the action I have mentioned, that the legal right of the Trustees to build upon it is unquestionable, and, if the contemplated sale of the property be not completed, the Commissioners are not prepared further to withhold their sanction to the proposals of the Trustees for the developmen of this valuable property, which has now been lying idle in their hands for the last seven years.