§ MR. STEPHEN CAVEsaid, it had been the practice of the Board of Trade to prepare Reports on the various Private Bills introduced into Parliament, and this involved considerable labour and occupied much valuable time in the office. The expense, too, was considerable, amounting last year to more than £300 for work done out of the office; besides the cost of printing and distribution, yet the Reports were usually consigned to the waste-paper basket without being looked at. The preparation of such Reports was not required by any Act of Parliament or Standing Order, except those which affected tidal-waters or harbours, which were reported upon under the Harbours Transfer Act of 1862. It was proposed, therefore, that henceforth these only should be reported upon. He would therefore move that the Board of Trade present to the House a Report on the following Bills, being all those which were of the character he had mentioned:—Swansea Valley and Harbour Junction Railway, Solway Junction Railway, Carnarvon and Llanberis Railway, Caledonian Railway (Forfarshire Works), North British Railway (Abandonment, &c), Thames Embankment (Chelsea), Thames Subways, Paignton Water, Imperial Gas, Winestead Level Drainage, Gaslight and Coke Company, Witham Drainage, and Holderness Embankment and Reclamation.
§ Motion agreed to.