§ SIR HENRY PEEKasked the President of the Board of Trade, Whether the Government contemplate taking any measures to terminate or mitigate the loss and inconvenience which the owners and occupiers of property in the City of London, situate in the direction of the proposed extension of the Metropolitan and Metropolitan District Railways, for the completion of the Inner Circle Line of Railway, have, for nearly twenty years, experienced, consequent on the numerous applications to Parliament in relation to the subject, including repeated applications for extension of time limited by Parliament; and, whether the Government intend to oppose the Bill introduced in the present Session of Parliament, for further extension of the time for acquiring land and completing the works, and will thus relieve the owners and occupiers from having again to incur the serious expense con- 1157 sequent on opposing such Bill in Committee?
§ MR. CHAMBERLAIN,in reply, said, he thought the question raised by the hon. Baronet was one which was essentially for the decision of a Select Committee of the House of Commons. It was altogether unusual, and he thought improper, for any Government Department to interfere to oppose an application to the House for an extension of time for the completion of works which were in course of construction.