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Dwellings, but should be let in connection with other land
adjacent thereto for commercial purposes, unless it should
thereafter be determined that they should be used for the
purpose of widening that thoroughfare. Thirdly, that certain
pieces of land which were purchased, not as insanitary
properties, but for the express purpose of enabling the improvement
scheme to be carried out, should not be devoted
to the purpose of the scheme, but should be sold or leased
for commercial purposes ; and fourthly, that the obligation
which the Council were under to re-house 660 persons
should be reduced to 608. The Board were not in any way
consulted with reference to these proposed alterations in the
original scheme, nor were they aware of the intentions of
the Home Secretary upon the matter, until the Bill for confirming
the Provisional Order, which was made in the exact
terms proposed by the London County Council, had been
introduced into the House of Commons.
The matter was immediately taken up and reported upon
by the Officers of the Board, who were directed to
place themselves in communication with Mr. Gainsford
Bruce, Q.C., M.P., with a view to some modification being
made in the proposals of the London County Council.
Mr. Gainsford Bruce entered very heartily into the Board's
views upon the matter, and rendered most valuable
assistance ; by his advice a memorandum against the second
reading of the Bill for confirming the Provisional Order was
prepared by the officers of the Board, and was circulated
among the Metropolitan Members of Parliament. The Bill
was, however, read a second time, it being maintained in the
House of Commons on behalf of the London County Council
that the subject was one which could far better be
dealt with by a Select Committee than by the House, and