§ MR. BELLsaid, he had to ask the hon. and learned Attorney General whether any and what progress had been made towards a settlement of the rival claims of the Duchy of Cornwall and the Woods and Forests to minerals below high-water mark; also, if any arrangement has been proposed by which leases or licences can be granted pending the settlement of these claims to parties desirous of working mines in the disputed localities, or what prevents such an arrangement being entered into?
THE ATTORNEY GENERALsaid, that some progress was making towards the settlement of the question. It had been proposed by the law officers of the Crown that a Bill should be brought into Parliament to make an arrangement for granting leases while this dispute was pending. That proposition was, however, at the suggestion of the officers of the Duchy, postponed, in the hope that the negotiations which had been commenced would dispense with the necessity of it.