QUESTION. (Hansard, 11 March 1889)

§ EARL FORTESCUE
, in rising to ask the Chairman of the Metropolitan Board of Works whether it is the fact that, in spite of the unanimous opposition of the Vestry of St. Marylebone, the Metropolitan Board of Works has granted permission to the Samaritan Free Hospital to advance their frontage 12 feet on the Marylebone Road; and whether, if this is so, in view of the importance of preserving all open spaces in the Metropolis, and of the danger of one encroachment forming a precedent for others, the Board will not postpone action in the matter until it can be dealt with by the London County Council, said: My Lords, the Metropolitan. Board, in a recent case gave two reasons for sanctioning a very similar encroachment, first, that there had been previous encroachments extending to the very next house, secondly, that the Vestry of St. Pancras was in favour of the encroachment. In this case the action pf the Metropolitan Board, as set out in the Question which I have put on the Paper, is one that has throughout met with opposition from the Vestry of St. Marylebone and the ratepayers of the district. In a communication made to the Board by the Vestry so far back as the 4th October last, the Board was informed that the Vestry opposed the application by the Hospital for an advance of frontage, which was then to be 30, not 12 feet; yet on the 15th November, there having been in the meantime no further communications, the Board announced that they had consented to that advance. The opposition on the part of the Vestry was renewed. On January 31 the Metropolitan Board informed the Vestry that as the Hospital Authorities now asked for only an advance of 12 feet, they would take no further action in the matter. Upon that public meetings were held, at which resolutions condemnatory of the proposal were passed, and the Members for the borough were asked to bring in a Bill to prohibit the projection beyond the line of frontage. But on the 7th of March the Metropolitan Board finally confirmed its approval, though the London County Council had pre- 1358 viously requested that Board to postpone granting permission to the Hospital for an advance of frontage. The land which the Board has thus given away is of considerable value, and therefore the action of the Board amounted, in effect, to making a donation from the public funds to this Hospital. Besides this, there is the consideration that the space reserved is infringed upon, and the contiguous property deprived of light and air. I beg to ask the Chairman of the Metropolitan Board of Works whether it is yet too late to reconsider the matter; and whether the Board, which will in a very short time be superseded by the London County Council, will not leave the determination of such a matter as this to their successors?

§ LORD MAGHERAMORNE
In answer to the Question of the noble Earl, the Metropolitan Board of Works have given their consent to the Samaritan Free Hospital bringing forward their frontage 12 ft. Perhaps your Lordships would like to know very shortly the facts of the case. In October last application was made to the Metropolitan Board of Works by the Committee of the Samaritan Free Hospital to advance their frontage about 30 ft. The matter was thoroughly gone into, and in consideration of what that Hospital had done, and what it was likely to do when the facilities for its good work was extended, the Board gave their consent to an advance of the frontage, not by 12 ft., but by 30 ft. There were many representations made, and the Committee of the Hospital came again into communication with the Metropolitan Board, when they showed their appreciation of the opinion and the wishes of the public; and after a long conference with the Metropolitan Board, instead of trying to go against public opinion, they said they would be very glad to bring in an amended plan. They did so, and asked only for 12 ft. advance, and that was an advance which only affected the gardens, which practically belonged to themselves. There was no infringement at all on the road, which is 50 ft. wide. I confess I was never more astonished in my life than when I heard all this tumult, and also the Question of the noble Earl. I think that the Metropolitan Board of Works have done their duty in giving their consent to that advance. I may 1359 say, further, that the Metropolitan Board have the greatest possible respect for those who are coming after them; but if the noble Earl thinks that I am or that my colleagues are going to abrogate the position we hold, and to be afraid to carry out our duties as long as the Metropolitan Board exists, I must tell Mm that he is very much mistaken. We intend, as long as we have a duty to perform, to carry it out in the most thorough and efficient manner. We have done everything in our power in no way to infringe on the duties of the new County Council; and as I see my successor (Lord Rosebery) sitting opposite to me, I think that noble Earl will endorse the statement that we have shown every desire to avoid infringing in any shape or form on the functions of the County Council. But at the same time the Metropolitan Board intend to discharge the duties imposed on them, and I am not afraid, here or anywhere else, to defend my colleagues in what they have done or are doing. The noble Earl (Earl Fortescue) asks whether I and my colleagues will not postpone action in this matter? I and my colleagues have tried to act within the law. We took legal opinion, and we cannot make or recommend those to whom we have given permission to give it up. It was signed and passed by the Board, and whatever the County Council like to do they can do. I believe that they have sent a letter—I do not know what the letter is, or what was the answer to it—but the Committee of the Samaritan Free Hospital are acting on their rights if they come forward 12 ft. The Metropolitan Board cannot act against the legal advice that has been given them; and, as we shall die very soon, the County Council may take what steps they please in the matter.

THE EARL OF KIMBERLEY
My Lords, I must confess that I know very little about the particular matter referred to in the Question of the noble Lord, but I must say that I have been very much struck by the doctrine enunciated by the noble Lord the Chairman of the Metropolitan Board of Works, which I must say does not accord with my view of what is the duty of a public body in the position now occupied by that Board. In my opinion, whenever a public body is so near 1360 extinction, it is bound, on a due consideration of the public interests, not to do any act that is not urgent, or that could, without public disadvantage be postponed. For instance, I may say that the magistrates of my own county, acting on that principle, have postponed a variety of things entirely within their jurisdiction until the County Council could deal with them, on the ground that, as a moribund body, it was not right for them to take too rigid a view of their duty, and do things of which their successors would not approve. If the matter was one which it was necessary should be decided without delay, and the public interests would suffer by its postponement, the Metropolitan Board of Works would be justified in their action; but I hope that they are not going, in these matters, to stand on their strict legal rights, and to think it a patriotic duty to exercise them fully to the very last day of their existence.

§ LORD MAGHERAMORNE
Perhaps I may say, in reply, that this matter came forward first of all last September, so that it must not be accounted one of the things done by the Board on the very eve of its dissolution. The noble Earl who last spoke commenced with the observation that he did not know anything about this matter, and I must say that the observations that he has made show that he has not studied it in such a way that his comments upon it are of any advantage to your Lordships.

§ EARL FORTESCUE
As I put this Question to the noble Lord, perhaps I may be permitted to say that, as the building operations of the Samaritan Hospital cannot commence till the spring, and the London County Council take over their jurisdiction on the 1st April, the notion that this is a pressing matter is really the most extraordinary view that even the Metropolitan Board has ever taken.