§ MR. THOMSON HANKEYsaid, he would also beg to ask the First Commissioner of Works, What is the cause of the delay in completing the Thames Embankment from Westminster to Blackfriars Bridge; has it arisen from any dispute between the Railway Company and the Metropolitan Board of Works; and, if this has been the case, has the difference been settled, and when is the Embankment likely to be open for public use? Since placing the Question on the Paper he understood that the First Commissioner had no charge whatever of the Embankment works; but perhaps the Vice-President of the Board of Trade would be enabled to answer the Question. Having seen in a newspaper of that morning that the arbitrator of the Board of Trade had reported, he might perhaps be allowed also to ask if that is the case, and whether there will be any objection to place a Copy of it on the table?
§ MR. STEPHEN CAVEsaid, he understood that the delay in completing the Embankment was owing to certain differences between the Railway Company and the Metropolitan Board of Works. Under a clause in the Metropolitan District Railways Act the Board of Trade appointed Mr. Hawkshaw as an arbitrator. With that appointment the functions of the Board of Trade ceased. He (Mr. Stephen Cave) learnt from a Report of a Committee of the Metropolitan Board of Works, published in The Times that morning, that the arbitrator had made his award, and the purport of it appeared to be contained in that Report, but no copy of the award had been forwarded to the Board of Trade. If his hon. Friend wished to move for it, he did not suppose that there would be any difficulty in producing it in obedience to an Order of the House.
COLONEL SYKESsaid, he wished to know, Whether the right hon. Gentleman was not aware that delay in the completion of the Thames Embankment had arisen from the bankruptcy of one of the contractors?
§ MR. STEPHEN CAVEsaid, he had not the slightest idea.