§ MR. W. E. FORSTERasked the Secretary of State for the Colonies, Whether there was any correspondence in 1879 between Her Majesty's Government and the Government of the Dominion of Canada respecting the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway; and, if so, whether he will lay such correspondence upon the Table of the House?
§ SIR MICHAEL HICKS-BEACH,in reply, said, there was some correspondence in 1879 upon the general question of the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway, but not upon the particular point to which he thought the Question referred—namely, the proposal that this country should assist by a guarantee, or in some other shape, in the construction of that railway. Some confidential and informal communications had passed between himself and the Members of the Canadian Ministry who visited England last autumn upon that subject; but those communications never assumed the form of correspondence, and led to no result.