§ MR. CHEETHAMasked the First Lord of the Treasury, Whether memorials have been addressed to him by upwards of one hundred Municipal Corporations and Local Governing Bodies, including Manchester, Birmingham, Derby, Salford, Brighton, Huddersfield, and other places, deprecating, in the public interest, the sale to private persons of the property of the Crown in the Southport foreshore; and, whether, in view of these manifestations of public opinion, Her Majesty's Government will undertake that no such alienation of the rights possessed by the Crown in foreshores and other lands shall in future be sanctioned without an opportunity being afforded to this House of expressing its judgment thereon?
§ MR. DODSONSir, at my right hon. Friend's request, I will answer this Question. We have received a considerable number of Memorials; but they all appear to have been based upon some misapprehension of the facts of the case. The Memorialists do not seem to have been aware that the title of the Duchy to the foreshore in question was disputed by the persons to whom the Duchy has sold its interest. Moreover, they seem not to be aware that the rights of the public over the foreshore remain unaffected by any change of ownership, and that they cannot be interfered with without the consent of Parliament previously obtained.