§ MR. MACDONALDasked the President of the Board of Trade, If, in consenting to lay upon the Table of the House on the 21st inst. a copy of a report dated the 24th April 1879, made by F. E. Harrison, Engineer to the North Eastern Railway Company, on the use of the Westinghouse Brake, it is to be inferred that the Board of Trade gives a preference to that brake; and, whether he will cause to be stated, as a preface to the papers, that the report was not drawn up at the instance of the Board of Trade, nor are its conclusions adopted by the Board of Trade?
§ VISCOUNT SANDONSir, I should have thought it would have been understood, from what I have said in the House formerly on the subject, that I give no opinion whatever on behalf of the Board of Trade respecting the merits of a particular brake; nor, in the pre- 1178 sent state of the case, could I consent that any preference should be shown by the Board to any particular invention. But as the brake controversy excites great interest in Parliament, I think it right to lay upon the Table of this House any Papers of interest which are sent to the Board of Trade concerning the various brakes which hon. Members may wish to have made public in this way. The form of the Return, which I had not observed, might possibly mislead the public as to the nature of the Report; and I will certainly take care that in the Report, as it is presented to the House, no doubt whatever shall exist as to its character.