LINCOLN'S INN FIELDS.
[TO TEE EDITOR OF THE " EPROTATOR.1
SIR,—No good cause ever gains by being overstated. Your correspondent, Mr. E. S. Roscoe, has not, I think, taken quite sufficient care to verify his facts before writing to you on the subject of the Lincoln's Inn Fields Gardens. Had he seen as much of them as I have, he would know that, as well as the spar- rows, a large number of children and young people enjoy the use of the gardens, and seem greatly to appreciate• them. It is true they are not of the poorer class, but are the children of respect- able inhabitants of the neighbourhood, who pay a small rent for the use of a key of the gardens, the rent being applied in aid of the garden rate levied on the inhabitants of the Fields, by virtue of the Act of Parliament, under which the gardens were inclosed and laid out. Within the last few years, an earnest attempt has been made by a considerable section of the Trustees appointed under this Act of Parliament to make the gardens more widely useful, and a step has been made in that direction by the admission from time to time, on specific occasions, of large numbers of poor children, under the supervi- sion of Miss Octavia Hill and her friends. That more might well be done, .1 readily admit, and I may say that the subject of the free admission of women and children to the gardens during the summer evenings has been more than once fully discussed by the trustees at their meetings, and the opinion of eminent counsel has been taken as to the right of the Trustees to adopt such a course. This opinion by no means leaves the main question free from doubt, but it is quite clear on one point, which is, that no additional expense must be thrown on the ratepayers by reason of the proposed change in the practice of the Trustees. On the other hand, it is equally clear, as a matter of fact, that a very con- siderable additional expense for watching, and guarding, and re- storation would be occasioned by the admission of an indefinite number of children to the gardens, so that the Trustees were brought face to face with a very serious difficulty. To meet this, a few gentlemen, taking an interest in the subject, offered to guarantee the additional expenditure within certain limits, and I believe that the experiment would have been made last summer, had it not been for the opposition of a few of the inhabitants of Lincoln's Inn Fields. In the face of this opposition, and looking to the terms of their trust and the advice they had received, the Trustees, or the majority of them, did not feel that they could with safety and propriety further extend the use of the gardens, and so the matter now stands.
1 fear that so long as the Trust is constituted as it now is, and the opposition above referred to continues, there will be little chance of our seeing the gardens made more widely useful than at present, but I, for one, should be very glad to see my fears falsified, and I have not yet lost all hope. The discussion of the matter in your columns and elsewhere may do good, and I am therefore glad to see it taken up from outside.—I am, Sir, &c.,
ONE OF THE TRUSTERS.
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