§ MR. MARK STEWART (Kirkcudbright)asked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, What steps the Government propose to take in order to carry out the recommendations in the Second Report of the Royal Commission on Irish Public Works, and particularly with regard to the harbour of Killybegs, and the railway through the County Donegal, for the purpose of connecting said harbour with the main lines of railway to Londonderry, Belfast, and Dublin; and, what proportion of the 25 sum of £1,300,000, which remains of £2,000,000 contemplated by the Act of 1883, the Government are prepared to spend in railway extension in Ireland?
§ THE CHIEF SECRETARY (Mr. A. J. BALFOUR) (Manchester, E.)In answer to my hon. Friend, I have to say that the Government propose to deal first with the First Report of the Commission. The Royal Commission themselves regarded the drainage question as the most important; and, as my right hon. Friend (Mr. W. H. Smith) has already stated, we have a Bill prepared to deal with that question at the present moment. With regard to the £2,000,000 of which my hon. Friend speaks, he is probably aware the Government have no right to spend that, except under the provisions laid down in the Tramways Act, without further statutory authority; and the question of further statutory authority could be dealt with at the same time as the Second Report of the Royal Commission.