§ MAJOR DICKSON (Dover)asked the First Lord of the Treasury, If he can state the total amount which has been expended on the Dover Convict Prison to the present date, including the purchase of land, and whether this expenditure was sanctioned in order that the works of the Dover Harbour of Refuge might be carried out; whether he can inform the House what circumstances have transpired since this expenditure was sanctioned to cause the Government to alter their views as to the National importance of this harbour; and, if it is intended to retain Dover as a convict station to the permanent injury of the borough?
§ THE FIRST LORD (Mr. W. H. SMITH) (Strand, Westminster)The total expenditure up to the present on the Dover Convict Prison is £61,575 15s. 9d., being £48,400 Os. 5d. for building, and £13,175 15s. 4d. for land. The expenditure was sanctioned in order that a harbour of refuge at Dover might be constructed. Recently doubts have arisen whether Dover is the best site for a harbour of refuge; and the Government, pending further consideration of the matter, have thought it best to suspend any further outlay. It would be open to question whether the expenditure of large sums of money in Dover by a convict or other establishment 33 would be looked upon as a permanent injury to the borough.