§ MR. TALBOT (Oxford University)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether his attention has been called to a statement of Mr. Harold Hodge, Chairman of the Bethnal Green Branch of the Mansion House Council for the Housing of the Poor, that the London School Board have recently acquired a 1147 site in Bethnal Green, known as the Wood Street site, including twenty houses belonging to the labouring classes; that the site was divided into two portions, one containing thirteen houses dealt with in an Act of 1895, the other containing seven houses dealt with in the Act of 1896; and whether any provision has been made for the rehousing of the persons so displaced; and, if not, whether he will take measures to prevent what appears to be an evasion of the law.
§ SIR MANCHERJEE BHOWNAGGREE (Bethnal Green, N.E.)I beg at the same time to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he is aware that the Wood Street site in Bethnal Green, acquired by the London School Board in two separate portions in 1895 and 1896, has been so acquired for what is essentially one scheme; that the site comprised twenty-one houses in the occupation of persons belonging to the labouring classes, but that no provision has been made for rehousing of persons displaced by such acquisition; and what steps he intends taking to remedy the inconvenience caused thereby in such a thickly populated district as Bethnal Green.
§ MR. PICKERSGILL (Bethnal Green, S.W.)I beg also to ask the right hon. Gentleman whether it has been brought to his knowledge that in the same locality, under the Act of 1896, the London School Board took nineteen houses in one street without making provision for the rehousing of the displaced occupiers, and will he take steps to prevent the systematic evasion of the law.
* THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE HOME DEPARTMENT (Sir M. WHITE-RIDLEY,) Lancashire, BlackpoolIf my hon. friend the Member for North East Bethnal Green will permit me, I will answer his question also at the same time as that of my right hon. friend the Member for Oxford University. I am informed by the London School Board that the facts are substantially as stated in the Questions, and that no provision for rehousing the displaced persons has been made, as no liability to rehouse arose under the Statutes. I propose to communicate further with the Board upon the subject, and, if necessary, with the Education Department.
§ MR. PICKERSGILLIf I give the right hon. Gentleman particulars of the case I have mentioned will he make similar inquiries?
§ MR. PICKERSGILLNo, not the same case, but a precisely similar one in the same locality.