§ MR. SMOLLETTasked the Under Secretary of State for India, In what year the scheme for the formation of a harbour upon the coast of Coromandel at Madras was approved of and sanctioned by the Secretary of State for India, and what was the original estimated cost of that undertaking; the name of the projector or engineer who framed the scheme and estimates, and whether he was a servant of the Government in the Department of Public Works, or an outsider; what amount of money has been spent upon this harbour up to the present date, and how the charges have been entered in the financial accounts; were the expenses incurred included in the ordinary expenditure of India, or was the scheme classed as an extraordinary and reproductive work; and, what is the present position of this undertaking, is it a success or a failure. Has the work been temporarily laid aside, or has it been permanently abandoned?
§ LORD GEORGE HAMILTON,in reply, said, the scheme was approved by the Secretary of State in Council on the 11th of March 1875, on the earnest recommendation of the Madras Government. The engineer who framed the scheme was Mr. Parkes, of 23, Abingdon Street, Westminster, The estimate was for £628,000. Mr. Parkes, who was the engineer for the work, was not a member of the Government in the Public Works Department, but was the consulting engineer of the Harbour Works. The amount expended last year was £140,000, and this year the estimate was for 820 £100,000. This money was shown in the accounts as advances. Five lacs of the sum had been advanced to the Madras Government, and that Government had advanced the remainder. The present position of the work was that it was not yet complete. He could not say that it had yet been a great success. There had been a large accumulation of sand, which had created some delay; but Sir Andrew Clarke was about to inspect and report upon the prospects of the work.