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82
There was, at that time, a debt and accumulated interest
amounting to £190,000 due to the Treasury in respect of
Battersea Park; this sum the Treasury proposed wholly to
remit.
In the year 1888, a statement was obtained from the
Treasury showing the present capital value of the property
originally belonging to Westminster Bridge and Battersea
Park, and retained by the Government, to be as follows;—
£
Westminster Bridge Estate
245,000
Battersea Park Estate
156.000
£401,000
The balance of loan and accumulated interest in respect of
Battersea Park Estate had in the meantime been reduced to
£170,000.
A comparison of the terms on which the Government proposed
to transfer the Parks, &c., to the Metropolis in 1884,
and the terms upon which the transfer was actually effected
in 1887, will show that by the alteration in the terms of
transfer, the Metropolis actually loses an income of £18,450
per annum, with the reversion to a considerable prospective
increase, owing to the almost inevitable growth in value of
the freehold estate at Battersea. As the cost of maintaining
the Parks and Bridge transferred exceeds the income thus
lost, the Vestry felt that they had good grounds for urging
the Treasury to re-open the question with a view to reverting
to the terms of settlement proposed in 1884.
A memorial was accordingly presented to the Lords of the
Treasury, and a deputation was appointed to wait upon the
Right Hon, W. H. Smith, First Lord, and after a short