§ MR. BRODRICKsaid, he wished to ask the Financial Secretary to the Treasury, Why the Commissioners of Woods and Forests refuse to compensate the Mona Brick and Tile Company on the ground of the Company having had granted them by the Commissioners a lease of the mineral substances on certain estates in the Isle of Man, for the sole purpose, as the Commissioners were informed and knew, of working the clay which the Agent of the Woods and Forests in the Isle of Man assured them was included in the term "mineral substances," and granted them under the said lease; it having since been decided in the Manx Courts of Law that the Commissioners are not the proprietors of clay in the Isle of Man, and had no right to grant the lease in question?
§ MR. STANSFELD, in reply, said, it was true that an injunction had been granted in the Isle of Man Courts prohibiting the working of the clay on the ground the company had leased. But the Commissioners, after obtaining an opinion, and before the grant of the lease, had informed the company that they would not guarantee them the use of the ground for that purpose, and that, if they proceeded, they must do so at their own risk. Further, the Commissioners had since taken advice, and they were advised that the company had neither a moral nor an equitable claim against them.