§ MR. JACOB BRIGHTasked the President of the Board of Trade, Whether a Report upon the question of the purchase of the Railways by the State has been made by an officer of the Board of Trade; and, if so, when that Report will be submitted to Parliament?
§ MR. CHICHESTER FORTESCUE, in reply, said, when he first saw this Question he was on the point of answering it simply in the negative, which would have been the truth—namely, that there was no official Report of the Board of Trade on the subject of the purchase of railways by the State; but on recollection, he remembered that there was a document at the Board of Trade to which, by a happy accident, the hon. Gentleman's Question might have some relation, and which had been made by an officer of the Board of Trade. That Report was of an interesting character, and contained certain passages in favour of the State purchase of railways. He proposed to lay it before the Committee now sitting on Railway Amalgamations, and it was highly probable the author of the document would be examined before the Committee.