§ MR. SUMMERS (Huddersfield)I beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury whether the Mitchelstown and Fermoy Railway Company, which was in existence at the time of the passing of the Public Works Loans (Tramways) (Ire- 1336 land) Act, having obtained an order in Council in June, 1885, complied in every particular with the provisions of the said Act, and was entitled to the benefit of the same; whether he is aware that it has in perpetuity a 5 per cent, baronial guarantee, and that, on the faith of the aforesaid, it entered into a contract, in June, 1888, for the construction of its line, one of the conditions of the contract being that it was to obtain a loan from the Board of Works; and whether, under the circumstances, the Treasury will instruct the Board of Works to make the advance applied for by the Mitchelstown and Fermoy Railway Company?
§ MR. JACKSONThe Mitchelstown and Fermoy Railway Company no doubt fulfilled the conditions required by the Public Works Loans (Tramways) (Ireland) Act, 1886, to be satisfied before a loan can be granted, but it was not entitled to the loan as a matter of right. I have no knowledge as to whether one of the conditions of the contract was to be a loan from the Board of Works; but I can hardly conceive that anyone would impose such a condition, or any contractor accept such a contract, without first ascertaining whether a loan could be obtained. As I have already stated, in answer to previous questions, the Treasury, in the exercise of its discretion, decided not to make any further loans under that Act.