View report page

REPORT, 1889-90. 133
your Royal Highnesses to Paddington since it was
constituted a Borough, returning two Members to
the Imperial Parliament, unanimously desire to
testify their loyalty and their sincere appreciation of
that constant interest in the common good which
distinguishes your Royal Highnesses and which has
induced you to visit, this day, the Ground opened
for public recreation, on the 28th April, 1888, by
his Royal Highness the Duke of Cambridge.
"The Borough of Paddington affords a striking
illustration of that general progress and prosperity
which have made the reign of Her Gracious Majesty,
your Royal Mother, so illustrious.
"The population of the parish in the year 1837,
when Queen Victoria ascended the throne, was
20,000; it now exceeds 112,000.
"The gross rateable value of property in 1837
was 103,000; it now exceeds One-and-a-half Millions.
"The area of the Borough is 1,280 acres. In
the year 1837, 188 acres only were built upon;
now, upwards of 1,000 acres are covered with
buildings.
"The increase of population which has led to
four-fifths of the area of the Borough being thus
appropriated, makes it imperative, on both physical
and moral grounds, that as much as possible of the
remaining land should be preserved for public
recreation.
"Your Royal Highnesses are aware, that by
the passing of the Local Government Act of 1888,
Parliament extended to the Metropolis, as a whole,
those Municipal Institutions which form so essential
a feature of the Constitutional Government of the
United Kingdom.