HC Deb 03 July 1882 vol 271 cc1242-3
SIR EDWARD WATKIN

asked the President of the Board of Trade, If he will lay upon the Table, and print and circulate, all Correspondence which has taken place with himself, or with officials of the Board of Trade, in reference to the experimental works for the Channel Tunnel, beginning with his note of 25th March last?

MR. CHAMBERLAIN

Sir, all the material Correspondence between the hon. Member, as Chairman of the Submarine Continental Railway Company, and the Board of Trade with reference to the Channel Tunnel experimental works, will shortly be laid upon the Table of the House, together with the other official Papers and Correspondence bearing on the subject. So far as the Board of Trade is concerned, the Correspondence will commence prior to March 25, as some letters which may prove of interest passed before that date. The letter of March 25 referred to by the hon. Member was an unofficial note in reply to a personal invitation to visit the Tunnel—I did not keep a copy of it—and as it does not appear to have any bearing on the questions at issue, or to affect the demand of the Board of Trade for an official inspection by their engineer and solicitor, I should not purpose to include it in the Papers to be laid on the Table of the House.