The Sun.
London, England, 1866-06-30 00:00:00

THE SHIP ZEBRA.

A report was brought up from the Main Drainage Com-
mittee recommending that, in addition.to the £3,500 already
paid in respect to damage to the steamship Zebra, further
checks be drawn in respect of claims for damage done to
goods shipped on board, as follows :—Messrs Hooton and
Nephew, £57 10s. sd. ; Messrs. Hibbert and Co., £133 17s.
5d.; Captain Goodwin, £9l 15s. 41 ; Messrs. Panal Cre-
medi, and Co., £866 10s. 6d. ; Lieut. Hogg, £35 13s. 6d ;
Lieut. Decie, £9 10s. 6d. ; Mrs. Prescott, £lO 15s. 6d. ;
Messrs. Henry Powell and Sons, £1,049 15s. 6d.
Tho recommendation of the committee was put and
agreed to.

THE FIRE BRIGADE.
The Main Drainage Committee recommended that ten-
ders bo invited for ten 6-inch manual engines of the Metro-
politan Fire Brigade, and that several new fire brigade
stations should be established, which recommendations
were agreed to.

F4NBBURY PARR.

The report from the Streets Committee, submitting a
plan of Finsbury Park, showing the proposed arrangement
of building sites on the 20 acres of land which the board
are empowered to dispose of for building purposes, and
recommending the Board to approve the same, was further
considered. To this recommendation Mr. Savage had
moved the following amendment :
" That inasmuch as the Board have limited their pur-
chase of the land for the purpose of Finsbury-park to 120
acres, instead of taking the 250 acres authorised by the
20th and 21st Vic., cap.lso, no portion of the land so taken
be let or sold, but that the whole be devoted for the health
and recreation of the public."
Mr. SHAW, in resuming the debate, said he should be
very glad if the people of Finsbury should have a park of
500 acres, or ono as large as Hyde-park, if the rest of the
inhabitants of tbo metropolis were not to be called upon
to pay for it. He hoped the Board would retain full 20
acres of land for building purposes, so that they could to
that extent repay themselves, and therefore ho strongly
supported the recommendation of the committee.

Mr. TURNER said, while ho was at all times willing to sup-
port the recommendations of the committee when he could
do so, and also to consider the interests of the ratepayers,
he was quite at a loss to understand how buildings could
be set up on two strips of land on each side of this park
without those buildings being a great detriment to the
rest of it. Were the recommendation of the committee to
be adopted, the approach to this park would be like the
neck of a bottle or the nozzle of a pair of bellows. If the
part next to the Seven Sisters-road were to be built upon
they would lose the advantage of an approach at both ends,
and it would be a serious detriment to the park to have
a belt of houses between it and the Seven Sisters-road.
With the view of giving the fullest effect to the intentions
of the Legislature, he should support the amendment-of
Mr. Savage.
Mr. H. L. TAYLOR said that this is a question that was
not now before the board for the first time, and it was also
one that could not be dealt with offhand. He should take
the course he had hitherto consistently pursued, and con-
tended that the ratepayers of the metropolis should not be
taxed for the formation of parks in the locality of London
at all, and until the board took upon themselves this duty
the Government selected the sites for parks, and they pro-
vided Hyde-park and the Green-park without any expense
whatever to the people of London. Very recently they had
formed a park which was a great boon to the inhabitants of
the east end of London, entirely at the cost of the Legisla-
ture, but by the course the board had taken they had per-
mitted the Consolidated Feud to be relieved of this ex-
pense, and they had thrown it upon the ratepayers.
The CHAIRMAN said that Parliament had given power to
the Board to make parks; therefore it was not a voluntary
act on their part, but was a duty passed upon them by the
Legislature.
grasp at everything, and it bad entailed upon them an
Mr. TAYLOR continued, and said the Board were willing
to
enormous cost. Parliament had allowed them to purchase
sites of land, but the localities where these parks were to
be formed were not to pay for them, and the cost of theta
was to be. thrown npon the ratepayers of the whole metro-
polis. There was not only the cost of the purchase, but
there would be the expense of the maintenance, which
would involve the employment of upwards of 50 gardeners,
park-keepers, and -other officers.
The
meddling of the
Board in such matters had involved them in au expendi-