§ MR. CONINGHAMsaid, he would beg-to ask the Secretary to the Admiralty, Whether the Lords of the Admiralty have any intention of adopting a plan, as sent in by C. W. Forbes, Esq., for checking the recoil of Gnus by Spring Buffers, and which is about to be adopted by the I French Government? He also wished to ask the Secretary to the Treasury, who is the engineering adviser of the Government in the matter of the Indian Telegraph; and whether he is the gentleman who acted as Engineer of the Surveying Expedition to the Isthmus of Darien which terminated disastrously?
§ LORD CLARENCE PAGETsaid, with regard to the question put to him by the hon. Member, he had to state that the Admiralty had received a letter from Mr. Forbes on the subject of spring buffers for guns, but it was unaccompanied by any plan.
§ MR. MILNER GIBSONsaid, that Mr. Lionel Gisborne was appointed by the Earl of Derby's Government as Engineer to the Gibraltar Telegraph, and occupied that position when the present Government came into office. Since then the wire had been transferred to Rangoon and Singapore, and the services of Mr. Gisborne had been continued. With respect to the survey in connection with the scheme for a ship canal across the Isthmus of Darien he had no 1779 official knowledge, as the survey was undertaken by a private company.