§ VISCOUNT ENFIELDsaid, he wished to ask the President of the Board of Trade, Whether, considering the numerous schemes that are proposed for intersecting the Metropolis and its Suburbs with various lines of Railway, he will take into consideration the propriety of recommending the appointment of a Special Committee or Commission to investigate and report upon the same?
§ MR. MILNER GIBSONIn reply to the question of my noble Friend, I have to state that it has not seemed expedient to the Government to appoint a Royal Commission for the purpose of inquiring 1029 the schemes now before Parliament for the extension of railway communication in the Metropolis. Some years since, indeed, a Commission was appointed to inquire into this subject, and they made a very elaborate Report, and it was the custom for many years of the Board of Trade to call the attention of the Committees on Railway Bills affecting the metropolis to that Report. But in certain important particulars Parliament has overruled the advice of that Royal Commission. There was one area in the metropolis which the Commission recommended should never be permitted to be invaded by any railway company. That sacred area, however, has been so invaded. Railway bridges which are at present in the course of construction over the Thames are at variance with the recommendations of the Commissioners: their Report has upon some points, nevertheless, been attended to. I am not quite sure what my noble Friend means by a "Special Committee" for inquiring into this subject. But if he means a Select Committee of the House of Commons, it would, of course, be for the House itself to consider whether such a Committee should be appointed. It is not, however, the intention of the Government to appoint anything in the shape of a Commission to inquire into this matter. But knowing the great importance of the subject, and the strong interest which is felt in the numerous metropolitan railway projects which have now to be considered by Parliament, I gave instructions to an officer of the Board of Trade to institute an inquiry into the general character of these schemes, and I have requested him to make a report upon a certain number of points of great public importance, which I thought he could deal with within a limited time; and when that report shall be made, I will lay it before the House. The House can then, if they should please, refer the report to the Committees on the groups of metropolitan railway schemes under their consideration. The report will contain such information upon the subject as it is in our power to bring before the House. Beyond presenting the report, the Department of Her Majesty's Government with which I am connected do not think it necessary to go. We have felt it to be our duty to furnish the Committee with all the information in our power. That must be my reply to the question which has been put by my noble Friend, and I hope the information the report will contain will be satisfactory.