The Sun.
London, England, 1862-02-26 00:00:00

GARDENS.

The house having resolved itself into committee upon the
i London coal end wine duties,
1 Mr. COWPER rose to move for leave to bring in a bill
to amend the London Coal and Wine Duties Continuance
Act, 1861, and to authorise the formation of a road between
Kensington-gore and Bayswater, and to apply the proceeds
(
of the metropolis improvement fund account towards de-
fraying the cost of the construction of such road. The
right hon. gentleman said that one of the special duties of
the office ho held was the guardianship of the parks, and he
was therefore anxious to protect them from any sort of in-
terference which would diminish the recreation and enjoy-
ment of her Majesty's subjects, A strong case, however,
had been made out for interference in the present instance.
For the last two years he had received communications re-
presenting that the formation of a road across the park was
urgent and necessary. This year he received a deputation
from the western parishes of St. George's, Hanover-square, I
Marylebone, St. Pancras, Kensington, and Chelsea, showing
that it was required for the accommodation of that part of
the town, and that it was a hard case that the park should
interpose a barrier of two miles to the passage of any car-
riage from north to south. Ho felt there was great force in
the demand that the crown should allow a carriage road to
be made to meet the paramount wants of that portion of
London. He spoke not of temporary wants arising from
the Exhibition, but of wants of a permanent nature. It
was not merely the ordinary traffic between Paddington and
Kensington-Gore and its neighbourhood which required to
bo accommodated. On the one hand, there were all the car-
riages going from the south to Paddington, and on the other,
all the vehicles from the north to Kensington-Gore and its
neighbourhood. In that part of the town they saw not
only the Kensington Museum, which was thronged by all
classes of the community, who found instruction there both
in science and art, as well as amusements of various sorts ;
but the Horticultural Gardens, which were likely to
receive thousands of persons at the exhibitions of
flowers, and the exhibition building, just erected,
a portion of which was to be permanent, and placed
under the care of the society of Arts. Therefore, not only
Londoners, but persons visiting the metropolis from all
parts of the country, would frequently desire to resort to
that centre of attraction by meats of the road now proposed.
On the other hand, looking to the interests of the frequenters
of the parks, ho would desire that such a road should not be
made unless it could be done without serious injury to those
parks. To some extent it was a conflict between utility
and beauty; but fortunately they had not to choose between
the two; as both might be combined. Ho thought that a
sunk road would answer all the purpose, namely, a direct
road below the surface, with sufficient air and space, which
would not interfere materially with the beauty of the land-
'scope nor with the pleasure of pedestrians. He described
the road last night, but it did not appear to be quite under-
stood, as very few had been on the gravel walk through the
centre of Kensington-gardens, along which the road would
proceed. (Laughter.) There were many persona who