SECOND READING. (Hansard, 22 August 1889)

§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE COLONIES (Lord KNUTSFORD)

By the Prisons Act of 1877, when a prison was discontinued it was provided that it should be offered to the Justices of the Peace, then the County Authority, and that in case of their declining to take it at the price that was fixed by the Act (which was based upon the number of cells then in occupation), it should be put up for sale by the Secretary of State. The Coldbath Fields Prison was discontinued in 1885. It was offered by the Secretary of State to the Justices at a price based on the principle sanctioned by the Act of Parliament, which amounted to about £186,000, and the Justices declined to take it. About that time the Royal Commission on the Housing of the Poor recommended in their Report that the sites of certain prisons, including the Coldbath Fields Prison, should be offered to the Metropolitan Board of Works at a price under the market price, with a view to artisans' dwellings being erected. Mr. Childers, then Secretary of State, in accordance with that recommendation of the Royal Commission, offered this site to the Metropolitan Board of Works at a price less than the market price, which was to be settled by arbitration; but the Metropolitan Board of Works thought that there was at that time in the locality a sufficient provision of 91 artisans' dwellings, and they, therefore, declined the offer. The Secretary of State then endeavoured to get a price offered for this site, but the highest offer that could he obtained was £100,000. About that time the Post Office entered into negotiation with the Treasury for the transfer of, at first part, and then the whole, of this site. It was of very great importance to them to get the site, and a very great advantage to the taxpayers, because the Post Office would then be able to move certain Departments which were very expensively housed elsewhere; and it was also a most convenient site because of its proximity to three stations of great lines of railway running from London. Negotiations went on; the Justices of Middlesex made no opposition, and, finally, the Post Office were placed in possession of this site in the year 1888. A question then arose whether the title of the Post Office was good, inasmuch as it could not be said strictly that the Secretary of State had sold the site in accordance with the provisions of the Act of 1877. Therefore this Bill was introduced to remove that doubt, and also to confirm an arrangement which was made as to the closing of a right of way. The Bill was introduced into the House of Commons, and was referred to a hybrid Committee. It was at first opposed by the County Council on the ground that it was an opportunity which should not be lost of providing a public open space for this crowded part of the Metropolis; but a compromise was arrived at which was embodied in Sections 4 and 5 of the Bill. I now ask your Lordships to give a Second Reading to this measure.