§ SIR CHARLES CAYZER (Barrow-in-Furness)I beg to ask the hon. Member for Chorley, as representing the First Commissioner of Works, under what regulations the Office of Works has given orders to exclude motor-cars from Hyde Park in the afternoon; and whether the regulation will be laid upon the Table of the House for the information of Members.
§ LORD BALCARRES (Lancashire, Chorley)The Regulation under which motor traffic is excluded from Hyde Park between the hours of 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. has been made under the provisions of Rule No. 1 for Hyde Park in connection with the Regulations prescribed by the Parks Regulation Act, 1872 (35 and 36 Vict., cap. 15). There is no legal obligation to lay the notice on the Table of the House; it is exhibited at the entrances to Hyde Park in accordance with the provisions of the Act.
§ MR. SCOTT-MONTAGUI beg to ask the hon. Member for Chorley, as representing the First Commissioner of Works, whether he can state under what regulations motor-carriages of all kinds are to be excluded from Hyde Park between three and seven; whether a longer notice can be given to enable persons using motor-cars to understand exactly by what roads they can travel; whether an exemption can be made in favour of electric or petrol broughams or landaulets which, unlike horse carriages, are already limited to ten miles an hour; and whether Peers and 258 Members of this House have right of ingress and egress when coming backwards and forwards to the House during the session as a matter of privilege.
§ LORD BALCARRESThe Answer to the first paragraph of the hon. Member's Question is identical with that which I have just given to the hon. Baronet the Member for Barrow-in-Furness. The Answer to the second paragraph is in the negative; the roads which cannot be used are specifically stated. In answer to the third paragraph the First Commissioner is not prepared to make any exception to the rule. In answer to the last paragraph the First Commissioner has no grounds for thinking that Peers and Members of Parliament have any privilege of travelling by motor-car over roads which are closed, under the provision of an Act of Parliament, to such traffic.
§ MR. SCOTT-MONTAGUMay I ask whether, under the Sessional Orders, Members of this House have not the right of free access to the House?
§ * MR. SPEAKERThat is really not a question on which the hon. Member for Chorley is competent to give an Answer.
§ MR. SOARESIs it not the case that the people using Hyde Park have been protected because they are wealthy, while similar privileges are refused to inhabitants of country districts.
§ LORD BALCARRESIf country districts were regulated by a similar Act of Parliament the inhabitants would have the same privileges. As regards the wealth of the users of Hyde Park, the hon. Member's Question is purely gratuitous, as the people who suffer under this regulation are generally far more wealthy than those who are protected by it.