If there is any truth in the report that it is the intention of the Government to make a road for carriages through Kensington Gardens; and, if he will state between what points it is proposed to make the roadway? MR. AYRTON: Sir, I am not the least surprised that the hon. Member should have addressed this inquiry to me, considering the position he occupies, for it is difficult to conceive a more circumstantial report than the rumour to which this Question relates. I hope, therefore, the House will permit me to give a somewhat longer answer than usual. The rumour, which contains a certain amount of official knowledge, likely to impose on the community, states that some years ago one of my predecessors had designs prepared for making the road to which the hon. Member's Question relates; but the Government of the day not being strong enough to carry out the design, it was set aside. The report further stated that I proposed to take up that project, and bring it to a completion, in which I should be materially assisted by the great strength of the present Government. But what really has occurred is this-About eight years ago my right hon. Friend the former Commissioner of Works proposed to Parliament to spend a large sum of money in cutting a sunk road through the middle of Kensington Gardens. Upon that occasion I was active in opposing the subject, and joined with others in pressing our opposition to a Division. The result of that opposition was such that the Bill was dropped, although we were numerically in a minority, and a new scheme was taken up to improve a road which then existed to some extent, running from north to south between Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens. That road has been since improved so as to form a straight road, and, considering it has been made in accordance with my views, it is absurd to suppose I could suggest a sunk road through Kensington Gardens, which I had before strongly opposed. In point of fact, there is not a shadow of foundation for the rumour; it is the last thing I should have thought of. As I am speaking, perhaps the House will permit me to anticipate a Question standing in the name of the hon. Member for Chelsea (Sir Henry Hoare), who wishes to know Whether, in the re-arrangement of the boundaries of Mr. W. H. Smith Kensington Gardens, for which a Vote is to be demanded, there will be any disturbance of, or interference with, the present line, limits, or ornamentation of the flower walk extending from the Kensington Road to the Serpentine Bridge? This carriage-road, as I explained on a former occasion, has cut off a very ragged piece of Hyde Park, which has often been spoken of in very uncomplimentary terms, and what we wish to do is to turn that unsightly piece to advantage by joining it with the ornamental portion of Kensington Gardens. My hon. Friend will understand that there must be some re-arrangement of the shrubs and walks; but such re-arrangement will, in the estimation of those who have charge of the work, rather improve the appearance of the Gardens than otherwise. As little change as possible, however, will be made. LORD JOHN MANNERS said, he wished to ask if it would be possible, before the Vote came on, to have a plan of the proposed alterations prepared for the inspection of Members? MR. AYRTON said, that a plan would be produced. HABITUAL CRIMINALS ACT. QUESTION. MR. ROWLAND SMITH said, he for the Home Department, Whether, in would beg to ask the Secretary of State the Habitual Criminals Act of 1869, Clause 16, the date 1861 was not inserted in error for 1866; and, whether this error has not rendered the Clause inoperative; and, if so, whether he will this Session amend it? MR. KNATCHBULL-HUGESSEN said, that owing to the haste with which the Habitual Criminals Act was passed, several errors of omission and commission were allowed to pass in the Bill. The Home Secretary, however, intended to introduce a Bill during the present Session to remedy these inaccuracies. IRELAND-PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE. QUESTION. MR. W. H. GREGORY said, he wished to ask the Secretary to the Treasury, Whether it is the intention of Her Majesty's Government to take any steps to furnish the Irish Public Record Office with copies of such ancient English Records as relate to Ireland? MR. STANSFELD, in reply, said, the subject had been under the consideration of the Treasury on more than one occasion. At present the resources of the Record Office were entirely absorbed by the work in hand; but as soon as that business was all disposed of, there would be no difficulty in complying with the terms of the request. SUBMARINE CABLES AND THE ADMIRALTY. QUESTION. MR. W. H. GREGORY said, he wished to ask the Under Secretary for the Home Department, If it be true that Her Majesty's forces by sea and land have been employed in preventing the landing of a submarine cable at Guernsey; and, if so, what is the principle recognized and sanctioned by Her Majesty's Government in regard to the landing of submarine cables on British Dependencies? MR. KNATCHBULL-HUGESSEN said, in reply, that it was quite true that Her Majesty's ship Dasher had been employed in preventing the landing a submarine cable at Guernsey; but he was not aware whether any force on land had been so employed. The Crown had a right to the foreshore, and it was on that ground that the cable had been prevented from being landed. It was done by order of the Secretary of State, and with the consent of the Treasury. The foreshore being the property of the Crown, it was its duty to reserve its rights. ROEHAMPTON GATE AT RICHMOND PARK.-QUESTION. MR. ALDERMAN W. LAWRENCE said, he wished to ask the First Com ral public to go into Richmond Park through that entrance. The public at large suffered no inconvenience-the sufferers were those residing in the immediate neighbourhood. Nothing could be done to remedy that inconvenience, because the owner of the road to that gate, considering herself very much affronted by what was done, declined to allow any carriage to pass over her private road. The question of opening a new road for the convenience of the inhabitants of the metropolis did not belong to him, but to those who administered the expenditure of the metropolis for the purpose of making roads for the convenience of the inhabitants. MR. ALDERMAN W. LAWRENCE said, he wished to know whether any sum had been offered to the owner of the private road, or any correspondence had taken place on the subject? MR. AYRTON replied, that no subsequent negotiations had since taken place, but that he had offered an apology to the lady with reference to the circumstances which led to the quarrel, but she declined to accept his apology. ARMY-BAND IN HYDE PARK. QUESTION. MR. STACPOOLE said, he would beg to ask the Secretary of State for War, If it is true that the Commanding Officer of the Regiment, now quartered at Knightsbridge Barracks, does not allow the band of his Regiment to perform upon the platform erected for that purpose in Hyde Park in the same manner as the bands of the two last other House hold Cavalry Regiments ? MR. CARDWELL: I doubt, Sir, missioner of Works, Whether Roehamp-prehended the bearing of this Question. whether my hon. Friend has clearly ap ton Gate of Richmond Park will be open to the public this season; and, if not, what course the Government intend to take in order that the visitors and inhabitants of the metropolis may have a nearer entrance and better approach to but The Army Estimates furnish the of pay the musicians for military purposes; it is no part of their military duty to perform upon the stand in Hyde Park. The costly instruments which constitute the Park than they have at present? the band are the property of the officers. MR. AYRTON said, he must remind I have understood that the officers are the House that last year, in Committee extremely courteous in extending to of Supply on the Civil Service Estimates, those who have no right to claim it the the salary of the gatekeeper at Roe-pleasure which the band affords; but I any offihampton Gate had been struck out of have not felt at liberty to make the Vote, in consequence of which arcial inquiries respecting the rules by which their courtesies are regulated. rangements had been made for blocking up the entrance which enabled the gene POSTAL SERVICE BETWEEN AMERICA Consular officers, it would, of course, indignity had been perpetrated upon the AND ENGLAND.-QUESTION. MR. BAINES said, he would beg to ask the Postmaster General, If he has received any reply from the Postmaster General of the United States, in regard to the more speedy conveyance of the Mails from America? THE MARQUESS OF HARTINGTON replied that he had received an answer from the Postmaster General of the United States; but he was sorry to say it held out no hopes of any acceleration in the transmission of the mails from America as long as the packet companies refused to accept the remuneration which he was empowered by Congress to offer. "From Hankow we have received the strange news that both the English and the United States Consuls, when calling on Viceroy Li, were refused admittance except by the side door, while the acting French Consul was recognized on terms of equality and obtained entrance by the middle or large door. It is just possible that the determined aspect assumed by the French Government on two or three occasions lately had paved the way for its representative at this time. Neither the United States nor the English Consul availed himself of Li's condescension to be visited by the side door ;" and, whether the Foreign Office will cause inquiry into this matter? MR. OTWAY replied that the Foreign Office had received no official intelligence of the circumstance referred to by his hon. and gallant Friend. If, however, his hon. and gallant Friend would take it upon himself to assert that any be the duty of the Foreign Office to inquire into the matter. He was, however, bound to say that the representations of this nature made by the Chinese newspapers had not always been verified upon inquiry. He might observe that he was not sufficiently versed in the etiquette prevalent in that part of the world to which his hon. and gallant Friend alluded, to know whether admission by a side door instead of a middle or large door could be regarded as an indignity; but he did know that in European Courts it was often a matter of special distinction to be admitted by the side door. SUPPLY. Order for Committee read. Motion made, and Question proposed, "That Mr. Speaker do now leave the Chair." POLICE REGULATION OF VAGRANTS. RESOLUTION. DR. BREWER, in rising to call the attention of the House to the unsatisfactory working of the regulations in force to secure the humane intentions of the Legislature in behalf of the Homeless Poor, consequent on the practically indiscriminate distribution of relief given to the whole class of applicants, criminal or not criminal, impostors or genuine poor; and, to move, That vagrants applying for shelter and food shall be put under the protection, regulation, and management of Police, said, that a reference to the original Poor Law institution of England, as based on various Acts passed between the reigns of Henry VII. and the 7th year of James I. showed that the evils that had then to be contended with arose from the fact that large numbers of dissolute and restless idlers, disbanded soldiers, and quondam lawless retainers had been thrown loose upon society. In the attempt to disintegrate the mass a division into three classes was made. The first consisted of the maimed, the diseased, and the impotent poor, for whom the Maisons Dieu, infirmaries, and hospitals were provided; the second, of the infant poor, for whom schools were built; and the third class, the idlers, the dissolute, the vagrants, and the incorrigible beggar, "No person shall give anything to a beggar that The In for whom Bridewells and institutions for | and scandal of the whole country. correction were supported. This division next reign was celebrated and sullied, as had been the result of the constant the reign in which commenced a series of preaching of Latimer, Ridley, and the barbarous and novel enactments against most popular divines of that period; and beggars and vagrants, totally excluding it was felt then that it was requisite and from the operation of their sanctions, essential to the good government of the those who were the beggars' tempters State to separate from this mixed mass and abettors. The Acts became imof pauperism this third and dangerous potent simply because they were outclass, which then as now threatened the rageous and impossible. In more rewell-being of society. There was, then, cent times, the introduction of machinothing new in the proposal to place nery into agricultural and manufac this vagrant class under the supervision turing pursuits did undoubtedly withand regulation of the police, for that draw multitudes of labourers from one was the original and primal basis of the locality and attract them to another, and Poor Law institution of the country. hence the migratory character stamped That was still the law and practice of upon vast bodies of the agricultural and every other European State. No one manufacturing population tended greatly had ever attempted to review the policy to modify, if not to revolutionize, the of the Legislature in respect to vagrancy sentiments of society generally and ultiwithout referring to an Order in Council mately to reverse the policy of the Gopassed in 1349, the year subsequent to vernment in relation to vagrancy. that of the terrible plague called the the sympathy which was felt for this "black death." That Order in Council class, the danger of vast bodies of agriwas as follows:cultural and manufacturing workmen herding in large cities and in this great metropolis with the vagrant, the idle, and the dissolute, was lost sight of, until the vagrant, .from his intractability, his immobility, and his ponderous apathy, became what was called master of the situation. The evil was increased by the number of charitable institutions intended for the relief of distress, but conducted without discipline, without classification, and without labour, whether as a means of education or as a test of condition. In 1856 there were in London 530 charitable institutions and nightly refuges and cognate societies, and the returns of the annual expenditure of the former class alone was £1,805,635. The returns of the night refuges and institutions of that description were then, as now, very defective, and, more than that, very unsatisfactory, and of their income we had no account. Of the working generally of these institutions those who had most deeply studied this subject for years, as it affected this metropolis, felt that what John de Thoresby said in his day was true also in this, for under colour of pity and giving alms, these institutions were simply provocative of the very evils which they were intended to mitigate and allay. The number of vagrants in London in 1856 was 1,205, which was supposed to be a seventh, or, more nearly, a sixth, of the entire vagrant population of England is able to labour, because that many valiant That Order in Council was not passed and Wales. The whole night admis- was, of professional tramps, convicted sions in every institution for the year thieves, and habitual vagrants who conwere returned as 143,000. He had him- stitute the great proportion of the vaself taken great pains, by the help of grancy of London, and of every large men who had been all their lifetime em- town where the vigilance of the police ployed in investigating the subject, and slumbers. Consequently, another Bill occupied in relieving the poor, to obtain was passed in the following year, 1865, certain information as to how many of extending the provisions of the former these admissions were wayfarers, or tra- Act beyond the wayfarers and the foundvelling mechanics and agricultural la- lings to wanderers and other destitute bourers, moving from place to place, persons; but as the measure excluded all seeking work, between 1856 and 1864. proper means of ascertaining the true Now, though undoubtedly the number character of the applicants, it really emvaried, not only according to the period braced all wanderers and all persons who of the year, but more especially accord- preferred living at the expense of the ing to the locality, if they put aside the public to maintaining themselves by night before the Derby, and the night monotonous industry. It was entitled the before the Oxford and Cambridge boat" Houseless Poor Act"—not the homerace, they would find that the number of less poor, but the houseless poor, a very real wayfarers was never 6 per cent, and different thing. When he had spoken of rarely more than 1 per cent. It would the title and the provisions of that Act to be remembered that in 1858 a very his Continental friends who were enstrong outcry was raised upon the sub-gaged in dealing with vagrancy, they ject of the homeless poor and vagrant exclaimed-"England provides for the classes in consequence of two children houseless poor; then we suppose she having wandered from their homes and will next make provision for the landless taken refuge in a certain institution not poor." And when they found that was far from Hatton Garden. In the year to be done without inquiry by the police 1864 the number of night admissions into the character, antecedents, and rose, from 143,000 in 1856, to 216,549. modes of life of those classes, they added The number of individuals making ap--"We know that England is very rich, plications did not rise in proportion, but but she must be very rich indeed to deal the recurrent admissions of the same in- simply by the force of her money-bags dividuals greatly increased. In fact, the with the part of any population which is casual character of the applicants was the most difficult of all to govern." He gradually lapsing into that of habitual had asked one eminent man, well known vagrancy. Seven out of the 42 parishes to the House, whether he was not astoto which he applied could give him no nished that men and women should returns, because they had kept no books. yearly be found starving in the streets Therefore their number, whatever it of that great metropolis; and his answer, might be, must be added to the 216,549. which went to the root of the whole But in the years 1863, 1864, and 1865 a matter, was-"Not at all. The wonder vehement and continuous onslaught was is, that whole families of the humbler, made upon the metropolitan guardians self-supporting, labouring men, are not for not supplying sufficient accommoda- beggared and do not die of want with tion for the "casual" poor. Unfortu- such a weight on their shoulders; and, nately, that word had done all the harm. as for the really destitute and those If it had been the casual poor the guar- fallen into distress, what decent poor man dians would have richly deserved it; but or woman would mix with such a ruffian it was not the casual poor, and the lot as in your vagrant wards must nightly erroneous use of that term had got them congregate ?" His friend referred him into all that trouble. In 1864 an Act to the causes of crime, which were the was passed for distributing over the same in England as in France and in whole metropolitan area the charge in- Germany, and said that the records of curred in providing food and accommo- the prisons showed that, next to drunkendation for the wayfarers and the found-ness, the generality of crime arose from lings. Now that phraseology would not the desire to acquire property with a only not cover the whole mass of the less degree of monotonous labour than applicants, but would touch only 1 per the ordinary industry required to obtain cent, composed, as that vast aggregate it honestly. That statement correDr. Brewer |