§ MR. CONINGHAMbegged to ask the President of the Board of Trade, Whether Messrs. Gisborne, Forde, and Liemens have been appointed to the charge and direction of the Cable about to be laid down between Malta and Alexandria?
§ MR. MILNER GIBSONsaid, in order to make his answer intelligible he must state the facts of the case. When the present Government came into office they found an order in existence which had been given by their predecessors to certain manufacturers to make a cable for the purpose of forming a telegraphic communication between England and Gibraltar. Messrs. Gisborne and Forde were appointed engineers to superintend the manufacture of the cable, and to see it carried to its destination. Since that time the destination of the cable had been changed, and it was now to be laid down between Malta and Alexandria. The Government had, however, made no change in the engineering officers who were still Messrs. Gisborne and Forde.