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5
Park Corner should be defrayed. When the Bill was before
a Committee of the House of Lords in the year 1886, the first
clause dealing with the question of maintenance was altered
so as to provide that the site should be an integral part of the
Parish of St. George, Hanover Square; that the streets
should be maintained by the Vestry of that Parish ; and that
the cost should be defrayed in equal moieties by the Metropolitan
Board of Works and the Vestry. This Board thereupon
petitioned against the Bill on the grounds (1) that it was
unjust that the poorer districts of the metropolis should be
called upon to contribute towards the maintenance of roads in
other parishes and particularly in so wealthy a parish as that
of St. George's, Hanover Square ; (2) that under the Metropolis
Local Management Act the duty of maintaining streets
devolves upon the Vestries and District Boards of Works as the
local and road authorities of the metropolis, and is in the
nature of a local charge ; and (3) that (save as to some of the
embankments which remain under the control of the Metropolitan
Board) the proposal was without precedent, the invariable
custom being for new streets on completion to be
handed over to the local authorities in whose districts they are
situate; Southwark Street, which is maintained at great
expense by this Board, being cited as an instance. The
Metropolitan Board opposed the clause, and eventually it was
struck out. Shortly afterwards, however, another provision
was introduced in lieu thereof, namely, for reference to an
arbitrator to determine the question at issue, but the period
after Whitsuntide having arrived no further progress was
made. In the early part of the present session the Bill was
once more introduced to the House of Commons, and provided
that the cost of maintenance should be defrayed in equal
moieties by the Metropolitan Board of Works and the Vestry,
and again, this Board petitioned against it on the grounds
above stated, and the Select Committee to whom it was
referred decided that the roads should be considered as part of
St. George's, and should be maintained by the Vestry of that
Parish, but that one-third of the cost should be contributed