MILLBANK PRISON BILL. (Hansard, 15 March 1892)

LORD WINDSOR

My Lords, in moving the Second Reading of this Bill I think it is only necessary for me to say a very few words in explanation. The object of the Bill is to place the site of Millbank Prison under the Commissioners of Works instead of directly under the Crown as it is now. The site of Millbank Prison was originally bought under an Act of 34 George III., and in a subsequent Act, 52 George III., the site and buildings were vested in His Majesty, his heirs and successors for the use of the public and for the purposes of this Act. Another Act of 6 and 7 Victoria again provided that the lands and tenements purchased for the Penitentiary, or thereto in any wise belonging, should be vested absolutely in Her Majesty, her heirs and successors. After this the Commissioners of Woods leased certain lands that were not found necessary for the purposes of the prison, upon which 869 some doubts arose as to the legality of these leases, and an Act was passed providing that such parts of the Millbank estate as had not been required for the prison should be handed over to the Commissioners of Woods and let on building leases, or otherwise advantageously disposed of, as part of the land revenues of the Grown. That Act further confirmed all the leases that had been already granted by the Commissioners of Woods. Thus it came about that although surplus lands, not used for the prison, were under the management of the Commissioners of Woods, the site of the prison itself was still vested in Her Majesty, and the Commissioners of Woods had no control over it. In the Housing of the Working Classes Act, 1885, it was provided that, in the event of the removal from the present site of Millbank Penitentiary, it should be lawful for Her Majesty, on the recommendation of the Treasury, and subject to such conditions as they may think reasonable, to sell and convey those respective sites, or any part or parts thereof, to the Metropolitan Board of Works at the fair market price. The London County Council resolved during last year to offer £3,000 an acre for a certain number of acres of the site, although their own valuer had stated that it was worth £5,000 an acre; and, besides, the War Office required four acres of the site. It therefore became necessary to discover what were the powers of dealing with this site, and reference was made to the Law Officers of the Crown. The Law Officers advise, first of all, that Her Majesty has power to sell the whole or part of the land to the London County Council irrespective of the purposes for which it should be used; secondly, that it is not clear that the whole, or any substantial portion, of the site could be transferred to another Department of the Government for other than prison purposes without legislation; and, thirdly, that the Crown has no power to sell the whole, or any portion, of the site to private persons or Corporations. After this opinion was given it became clear that legislation was necessary, and the Bill proposes to place this site under the management of the Commissioners of Works so as to enable them to deal 870 with it, dispose of it, or sell it in whatever way they think fit under the powers conferred on them by the 15 and 16 Victoria, Cap. 28, Section 2. My Lords, I beg to move that the Bill be now read a second time.