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as aforesaid without a sale of the whole of the prison being first
made by the Secretary of state; and the Act proposes by the
2nd section to vest the prison in the Postmaster-General, freed
and discharged from all claims, interests, rights and demands of
or on behalf of the Justices of the Peace for the County of
Middlesex, or for the County of London, or any other person or
body corporate whatsoever.
The recommendations of the Report on the Housing of the
Poor will be thus disregarded; an open space for the adjoining
artizans' dwellings will be lost: and the ratepayers' interest in
any surplus arising after a sale will also be disregarded, if the
proposed Bill passes into law.
The Post Office Sites Act received the Royal
Assent on the 30th August, 1889, and contained
the following clause:—
“If the London County Council shall at any
time, within six months after the passing of this
Act, give notice in writing to the PostmasterGeneral
that they desire to purchase for the purpose
of an open space that portion of the Coldbath
Fields Prison which is coloured green on the plan
in this Act referred to, the Postmaster-General
shall sell for the purpose aforesaid, such portion of
the said prison to the London County Council at a
price bearing the same proportion to one hundred
thousand pounds as the portion coloured green
bears to the whole of the said prison, or the
Postmaster-General may in his discretion in lieu of
selling such portion as aforesaid, pay to the London
County Council the sum of ten thousand pounds to
be expended by the said Council in providing open
spaces."
At the Meeting of the Vestry on the 31st October,
the following communications were read;—
London County Council,
Spring Gardens, S.W.,
26th October, 1889.
Sir,
The Improvements Committee of this Council have been
in communication with the Postmaster-General on the subject of