SECOND READING. (Hansard, 18 May 1886)

§ THE FIRST COMMISSIONER OF WORKS (The Earl of ELGIN)
, in moving that the Bill be read the second time, said, that it would be in the recollection of their Lordships that the improvements at Hyde Park Corner had been carried out by the Office which he had the honour to represent. The estimate for the whole of the works was £30,000; but the sum actually spent was £27,538, of which sum £20,000 was contributed by the Metropolitan Board of Works, and £3,000 by the Duke of Westminster, and the balance, £4,538, was defrayed out of votes granted by Parliament. Of this last sum £3,000 was spent in removing the reservoir from St. James's Park, and the remainder, £1,538, was spent on improvements. Having briefly referred to a former 1262 attempt at legislating on the subject' the noble Earl said, that last year a Bill was introduced into the House of Commons, and was re-introduced this year. It was there referred to a Hybrid Committee, which had power to hear witnesses, and before which the Metropolitan Board of Works was, he believed, requested by the Committee to appear, and was represented by counsel. He mentioned that to show that the whole subject was before the Committee of the other House. The Bill, therefore, which he had to present was the Bill of the Government, and also of the Committee of the Commons. It proposed, in the first place, that that portion of the space now covered by the improvements which had been included in the Green Park, and which, therefore, was a portion of the parish of St. Martin's-in-the-Fields, should be severed from that parish, and should be considered for the future as situated in the parish of St. George's, Hanover Square. That would relieve the parish of St. Martin's from the obligation of maintaining that portion of the road. The Bill, in the next place, proposed that the maintenance of the roads should in future be defrayed in equal moieties by the Metropolitan Board and the Vestry of St. George's, Hanover Square. On that part of the Bill he did not wish to say anything more, as the Metropolitan Board had petitioned against it, and would be heard in opposition. The Bill was in the same position as a Private Bill, and would go through the same process. Therefore, he did not wish to anticipate what the Metropolitan Board might have to say before the Committee. With regard to the three open spaces, which were not at present in a very satisfactory state, he had to point out that their future maintenance was not transferred by the Bill. These spaces would be laid out by the Committee under the Presidency of His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales; and it might interest their Lordships to know that the last payment to the sculptor for the statue of the Duke of Wellington was due next March, so that it might be expected that the Committee would be able soon afterwards to proceed with the work. When their work was completed, the maintenance of these spaces would devolve upon the Board of Works.

§ THE EARL OF POWIS
said, that as the noble Earl had referred to the opposition which, he had successfully made on the former Bill, he was happy on the present occasion to say that he thought the Committee of the House of Commons had come to a reasonable settlement of the question, and that he supported the Bill as it now stood.

§ EARL FORTESCUE
complained that Mr. Shaw Lefevre had barbarously cut down a handsome group of trees, about 50 years old, which were an ornament to that wide blank space, and masked its irregularity; besides affording shade, which would have been very welcome in hot weather to the numbers often detained there some minutes by the traffic before being able to cross. Whenever required for the further improvements talked of, indeed, but not yet begun, the trees could have been taken down in a single day, though they would have been much better left. But, "drest in a little brief authority," that Minister must needs show it by hurriedly removing what could not be replaced in 40 years. It was a great pity that his want of taste and of practical knowledge of what was required there had, to a certain extent, marred a really great improvement.