§ MR. FISON (Yorkshire, W.R., Doncaster)To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether the police have made any complaints in reference to the obstruction caused to traffic by the lengthened closing of Vauxhall Bridge; and, if so, what steps he proposes to take.
(Answered by Mr. Secretary Akers-Douglas.) No complaints on this subject have come to my knowledge; but, in view of the length of time during which the bridge has been closed, I have made inquiries, and am informed that the undertaking (which has not merely consisted in building a new bridge, but has involved preliminary operations of considerable magnitude and difficulty) has been actively proceeded with from the beginning. I learn, further, that the time specified in the contract for the completion of the superstructure of the new bridge is the 31st day of December, 1905, with a provision for heavy penalties against the contractor in the event of delay beyond that date.