§ Order of the Day for the House to be put into Committee, read.
§ Moved, That the House do now resolve itself into Committee.—(Earl Beauchamp.)
THE EARL OF MEATHBefore your Lordships go into Committee on this Bill, I desire to ask His Majesty's Government whether, in the building operations which they propose to undertake on Whitehall Gardens, there is any danger of so diminishing the amount of open space lying between Whitehall Gardens and the Thames that some future Government or some future London County Council will find it very difficult indeed to extend the public gardens which are now upon the Embankment, and which add so much to the beauty of our metropolis and to the health and happiness of the people.
§ THE FIRST COMMISSIONER OF WORKS (EARL BEAUCHAMP)I think I can reassure the noble Earl on the point he has raised. This Bill was fully considered by a Committee in another place and here, and every opportunity has been given to those interested in open spaces to make any appearance they desired before the House of Commons Committee as well as before the Committee of your Lordships' House. The provisions which were inserted in the Bill in the House of Commons have, I think, in every way satisfied those who were anxious in regard to this matter. I may tell the noble Earl that we are not allowed under the Bill to go beyond a certain line which is even not so far forward as a continuation of the line of Whitehall Court. Therefore there will always be in front of the new buildings room for a garden quite as large as that which is now there, and to which the noble Earl referred in terms of appreciation with which I should like to associate myself.
§ On Question, Motion agreed to.
§ House in Committee accordingly.
§ [The EARL OF DONOUGHMORE in the Chair.]
§ Bill reported without amendment, and to be read 3a To-morrow.