§ MR. WELBYasked the First Commissioner of Works, If he would state to the House on which of the grounds recently alleged by him, viz. military considerations, importance, enterprise, and the use made of the soil, Flintshire has been selected for survey in preference to Lincolnshire, and Maps of it made on the 25-inch scale which have been recently published by the Ordnance Department?
§ MR. AYRTON, in reply, said, the main consideration which had influenced the Ordnance Survey Department in selecting Flintshire was that it was a mineral county. It was thought the public interest was best served by selecting counties on which the welfare of the country largely depended and which were the scene of great activity and enterprise. Moreover, a Bill was before the House—the Mines Regulation Bill—which would require the preparation of maps on a large scale. He said this without disparaging the excellence of Lincolnshire, which was eminently an agricultural county.