§ MR. MARUM (Kilkenny, N.)asked the First Lord of the Treasury, Whether his attention has been called to the Second Report of the Royal Commission upon Irish Public Works, where, amongst many illustrations given of defective railway management, the following paragraph appeared (page 50):—
In the County (Kilkenny) is a district which, in the opinion of professional and practical men, contains a large store of coal.……This coalfield is already worked to an appreciable extent for local purposes, but, though within 10 to 20 miles of three lines of railway, has never been opened up by a branch line; and it is remarkable that a Company which occupies such a strong financial and general position as the Great Southern and Western Railway should never have made an attempt to develop this industry, nor have they assisted the local efforts which have been made to provide railway communication with that coalfield;and, whether Her Majesty's Government are prepared forthwith to give effect to the recommendations of the Royal Commissions in regard to railway re-organization and to tramway extensions, by an amendment and consolidation of the Tramways Acts, so that their financial proposals, without involving any baronial guarantee, may be carried out, under which, amongst other schemes projected in other counties, a local Company are prepared to undertake the construction of a tram line in the above locality, and have all the estimates, surveys, plans, and specifications necessary, long since completed, and ready to submit to any Government engineering supervision as in the Report suggested?
§ THE FIRST LORD (Mr. W. H. SMITH) (Strand, Westminster)The Report to which the hon. Member calls attention is now under the consideration of the Government. It deals with very large questions, and has been before the Government for too short a time for me to be able to specify what recommendations of the Royal Commissioners the Government are prepared to accept.