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47
The following correspondence thereupon ensued:
Vestry Hall, Clerkenwell,
December 5th, 1889.
Sir,
Widening Farringdon Road.
The Vestry have received from the London County Council
a letter addressed to that body by yourself, under date of the 7th
October last, upon the above subject, in which it is stated that
the Postmaster-General assumes that the local authorities will be
prepared to purchase the land necessary for widening the roadway
to 60 feet.
In connection therewith I am to recall your attention to your
letter of the 9th August last upon the same subject, addressed to
this Vestry, in which you state that at the proper time the Postmaster-General
would be prepared to recommend the Government
to concede sufficient land for the purpose. The Vestry have
always considerd that letter to mean that, in view of the
additional traffic thrown upon the road by the Post Office occupation
of the prison premises, the land was to be given up by the
Post Office, and they are somewhat surprised now to learn that
it is expected that the land will be purchased.
The Vestry will be glad to hear that your letter to the Council
of the 7th October was written as the result of a temporary
oversight of your letter to the Vestry af the 9th August.
I am, Sir,
Your obedient servant,
ROBERT PAGET,
Sir S. A. Blackwood, K.C.B., Vestry Clerk.
Secretary, General Post Office.
General Post Office,
Sir, 10th December, 1889.
In reply to your letter of the 5th inst., relative to the proposed
widening of Farringdon Road between Mount Pleasant and
Calthorpe Street, I have to inform you that the concession
mentioned in my letter of the 9th August last, as that which the
Postmaster-General would be prepared to recommend, applied to
the giving up of the use of the land required, and the consequent
curtailment of the Post Office yard. It was not intended to imply
that the land would be transferred to the Local Authorities free
of cost.
I am, Sir,
Your obedient Servant,
S. A. BLACKWOOD.
Robert Paget, Esq.,
Vestry Clerk, Clerkenwell, E.C.