§ MR. MARUM (Kilkenny, N.)I beg to ask the Attorney General for Ireland whether his attention has been called to the fact that many Light Railway Schemes that have been scheduled or declared by the Privy Council to be desirable of construction have been thrown out by the refusal of Grand Juries to sanction guarantees, and also that many other proposed lines have been postponed, so that there must remain a considerable portion of the "free" grant money under the recent Act unappropriated; whether, in view and in lieu of the foregoing, the Government are prepared to recommend to the consideration of the Privy Council other proposed meritorious schemes, especially the proposed line of railway in reference to the "Leinster Coal Field," in North Kilkenny, as to which a Memorial has been long since duly lodged with the Clerk of the Privy Council, signed by over 2,000 of all classes of the inhabitants of the district; whether he is aware that the Royal Commission on Public Works (Ireland), in their Report dated 4th January, 1888, specially called attention to the remarkable absence of railway communication in regard to the "Leinster Coal Field," the strata of which contains a large deposit of anthracite coal, and whether he is further aware that the recent Naval Manœuvres have impressed the Authorities of the Admiralty with the special value of "smokeless" coal in Naval strategy; and whether, in view of the above, the Government are prepared to aid in the development of the home supply of such a valuable adjunct in Imperial Naval defence?
§ THE ATTORNEY GENERAL FOR IRELAND (Mr. MADDEN,) Dublin UniversityThe cases of such of the lines 1643 already scheduled as have passed the Grand Juries are under consideration, and until a decision is arrived at as to these lines it is impossible to say how much of the money granted under the Act of 1889 will be required; and it would therefore be premature to enter upon the consideration of any schemes not already scheduled.