§ MR. CROOKS (Woolwich)I beg to ask the First Commissioner of Works if he will explain why, seeing that £1,200 per mile per year is expended upon the roads of Hyde Park, only £300 per mile per year is expended upon the roads of 872 Regent's Park; what is the reason for this difference; will he say how many men are employed daily in cleaning the roads of Regent's Park; what is the average age of these men and what is their rate of pay; and why the gates of Regent's Park, which have never been closed for twenty years, cannot be closed; and will he state under what authority, or under what Act of Parliament, does the Office of Works deal with the Regent's Park roads.
§ THE FIRST COMMISSIONER OF WORKS (Mr. HARCOURT,) Lancashire, RossendaleThe expenditure on the Hyde Park roads is £1,100 per mile per year and not £1,200, and whilst that on the Regent's Park roads was formerly £300 it will be more in future, and in the current year is £520 per mile. The difference between the cost is due to the greater width of, and greater traffic upon, the roads in Hyde Park; and the maintenance of the Regent's Park roads, moreover, is divided between the Office of Works and the Crown Estate Paving Commissioners. The number of men employed daily on the Regent's Park Roads is on an average twelve. Their average age is thirty-eight, and their pay 4s. a day. It has never been found necessary to close the gates of Regent's Park, and I hope such necessity will not arise. The present arrangements for the maintenance of the roads in that Park have existed since the constitution of the Commissioners of Works, but it is a matter of custom rather than of enactment. Efforts are being made to remove the inconvenience of the present dual control.