§ SIR ROBERT ANSTRUTHERasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department, When the Returns moved for by him upon the 3rd and 7th of April 1873, relating to "Turnpike Trusts" and "Roads and Bridges" in Scotland, and ordered by the House to be prepared, will be laid upon the Table?
MR. ASSHETON CROSS, in reply, said, the Return moved for by the hon. 814 Baronet on the 3rd of April, 1873, had been prepared, and was at the present moment in the Home Office. It had been waiting there until the other Return, ordered on the 7th of April, also should be prepared. However, he had given instructions that it should be presented at once, and it was now in the hands of the printers. As to the Return moved for on the 7th of April, it was necessary to write to about 170 Road Boards, and answers had been received from only 145. The clerks of the Road Trustees were not Government officials, and the Returns could not be got with the same despatch as they could be got from Government officials, because there were no means of recompensing the clerks of the Trustees for the trouble to which they were put.