The Sun.
London, England, 1865-02-04 00:00:00

to the sale of produce. He felt that he had spoken very
freely of the agreement and of the resolutions of the club,
but he wished to be understood that he was extremely
obliged to them for the assistance they had shown a dis-
position to give him in the matter, although he was of
opinion thatthey had failed to do so. To show what was
his position in this matter, he had, as it were, sucked the
brains of everybody he could lay hold of—(laughter)—in-
eluding the members of that club. He intended now to
withdraw his agreement altogether from any further discus-
sion. He had quite made up his mind upon the main points
which he intended to embody in the agreement. There
were one or two matters of detail which he proposed to alter
in the agreement. For instance, he intended to give more
encouragement to autumn cultivation, by allowing 20s. an
acre for land left clean, whether cultivated or ploughed.
He did not intend to insist on so large a portion of straw
being left as was proposed by the club. He had been very
strongly urged to make some allowance for the use of arti-
ficial food, and he thought he should in all probability de-
termine to allow for probably a third of the last year's con-
sumption. He had quite come to the conclusion that
artificial manures were not to be allowed for. In many
instances they not only did not leave much in the land
but they took a great deal out of it to the injury rather
than the benefit of the incoming tenant. If the tenant
wished to make use of artificial manures, let him go to his
landlord and make an arrangement as to whether an allow-
ance should be made or not. , He should insert a clause
strictly confining the arbitrators to the agreement. (Ap-
plause.)
Some discussion followed, in the course of which several
clauses in the agreement introduced by the club were
amended, and the draught, with the amendments, was
ordered to be printed.

Metropolitan Board of Works.

This board held its usual weekly meeting yester•

day at the offices in Spring-gardens. The President,
J. Thwaites, Esq., took the chair at 12 o'clock.

FINANCE.
The cash statement for the current week shows a

total general balance of £719,137 Os. 10d.

STATE OF THE METROPOLITAN ROADS.
The Board received a deputation from the Society

'or the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, to presen

a memorial on the subject of forming and repairing
the roads of the metropolis. The memorialists par-
ticularly specified the sufferings which cattle had to
endure from passing over the roads where the gra-
nite was loose.

The PRESIDENT informed the deputation that this
was a matter over which the Board, at present, had

no jurisdiction.

The deputation then withdrew.

THE WIMBLEDON PARK BILL.
Mr. DOULTON, M.P., called attention to the Wim

, .
bledon-park Bill, and moved that the Bill should be
referred to the Streets Committee for consideration

and report. He said he took this step in order that
the members of the Board might make themselves

acquainted with the contents of this Bill ; but if he
had adopted his own views he should have moved a
resolution entirely condemning the measure brought

forward under this title. It might be said that this
Bill affected a district in which the Board had no
jurisdiction, as Wimbledon-common was outside the

metropolitan area ; but this was not altogether cor•

rect, as a portion of the common was in Wands.

worth, and so was in the jurisdiction of the Board.
Supposing, however, that the whole of the common

was outside the area under the Board's jurisdiction

the common had been of special advantage to the

metropolis in giving an open space where the
people could have recreation and healthful enjoy-
ment ; and on that ground alone it would
be advisable for the Board to consider the ques-

tion. (Hear.) Among the many duties of the
Board it had to form parks ; and it would have to
pay something like £50,000 for Finsbury-park, and
a like sum for a Southwark Park ; and when these
two parks were formed he ventured to say no more
parks would be needed for the metropolis, as, in
addition to these two, there would be Battersea
Park, Regent's Park, St. James's Park, and Vic-
toria Park. The Board's attention ought,.then, to

be turned to the preservation of the natural parks—
the open spaces round the metropolis ; and powers
should be sought for placing those open spaces
under the jurisdiction of the Board, or of some other
body, for the use and enjoyment of the public.
(Hear, hear.) The object of the Wimbledon-com-
mon bill was, he should show, to give powers for the
enclosure of Wimbledon-common ; to sanction part
of the common being built upon, and to form the
portion which remained into a fashionable park like
St. James's, where certainly the inhabitants could
walk, but not where they were able to enjoy them-

selves with the freedom which they now possessed
on the open spaces. The preamble of the bill showed

hat this was the intention, for it said, "Wimble

dom-common is the resort of numerous gipsies and
other wanderers, whence nuisances and annoyances
result, and so large a tract of land open and unpro-
tected in the neighbourhood of London is liable to
other annoyances and abuses." He took exception
to this, and held that the common was not liable to
annoyances and abuses. The third clause proposed
to give power for drives to be made, trees planted,
lakes and ponds to be formed, and, in fact, to form
'the common into a fashionable park, andit was pro-
posed to place over it a " protector"—a term he did
not like at all, for there was something autocratic
in it. (A laugh.) And the protector was to have the
power of excluding anybody he liked from the park.
By section 5 the park might be used for purposes of
practical utility, but then only with permission of the
that protector and with the sanction of the Home Secre-
tary.o This " purpose of practical utility" doubtless
and referredhewt °au hde volunteertake oecas gatheringsoccasion
to s ay
h on
at the
h e common,flly ap-
preciated preciated all that Earl Spencer had done for the
volunteer movement, and the noble earl had done a
very great deal for that patriotic organisation ; but
this fact must be looked at—that it would be com-
petent for Earl Spencer to retract his permission to
the volunteers to have the use of the common, and
no one had power over him if he did so ; or the next
Earl Spencer might not have the same views as the
present noble earl, and might put into force all the
exclusive powers which the bill proposed to give
him ; or the noble earl might sell his rights in the
park when formed ; and as the protectorship would
go with the purchase, the use of the park by the
public could be stopped altogether by the purchaser.
The fifth clause gave power to the protector to close
the park and claim money for entrance, which no
doubt related to the National Rifle Association
meetings there, and then went on to say, " but the
park shall not be used for the purposes of political
meetings, nor for open-air preaching, nor for any
meetings of clubs or benefit societies." This last
exclusion he could only characterise as snobbish.
The clause further gave the protector power to
" permit the park to be used for all such games and
pastimes, and at such times and in such places, and
under such conditions and restrictions as he shall
think proper ;" and he was to have power to make
by-laws for the government of the park—by-laws
which he was to be able to put into force without
any intervening power, and to repeal when he
thought proper ; and he might under the bill sanc-
tion a proceeding one day and countermand that
sanction the next day. Another proposal of the bill
was that the protector should be empowered to build
a mansion on the most beautiful part of the com-
mon—namely, that part known as the "
Windmill-
side," and he was to appropriate two acres of the sur-
rounding land as pleasure grounds to his mansion.
It was, under the provisions of the bill, quite
competent for Earl Spencer to say to the public,
" You cannot enter the park only at certain periods
of the day," and he might enclose any portion of it
for his own pleasure. There was a notion abroad
that Earl Spencer was giving up a great deal in
offering to deal with the common in the manner in
which by this Bill it was proposed to deal with it.
But this was not so. If it was assumed that Earl
Spencer had power to build over the common he
would be giving up a great deal by the passing of
this Bill ; but he had no such power. He had rights
to sell the gravel, and he had pasturage rights; and
this Bill not only proposed to give him these, but it
proposed to give him the right to sell such portions
as would cover the whole expense of forming the re-
maining portion into an ornamental park round his
own mansion, and maintaining the park when it was
formed, so that land now worth only 30s. an acre
would be made worth £4 or £5 an acre. At present
Earl Spencer had no power to build over the com-
mon ; and there were other rights besides his—those
of the copyholders and commoners ; and this very
fact brought him before Parliament, for these other