§ MR. E. H. BAYLEY (Camberwell, N.)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for War whether his attention has been drawn to a statement made by the Gibraltar Ratepayers' Defence Association in a letter to the Secretary' of State for the Colonies, and contained in the Blue Book for May, 1892, page 11, that the present colonial engineer, when formerly acting as engineer to the Sanitary Commissioners, was removed from the latter office on the ground that he could not and did not satisfactorily perform the multifarious duties which he had undertaken; that on two separate occasions this same official had been reprimanded by Secretaries of State for the Colonies, under circumstances which alone justify the want of confidence expressed at the public meeting in regard to his having the control of any works wherein the ratepayers are concerned; and whether the scheme proposed by the said engineer for boring a tunnel, six feet by five feet, through the Rock of Gibraltar in search of water, has now been finally abandoned?
§ THE UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE COLONIES (Mr. S. BUXTON,) Tower Hamlets, PoplarAs regards the question referring to the colonial engineer, similar questions were asked and answered in the House on the 9th of May last year. There is nothing to add to the answers then given. As regards the last question, I am not yet in a position to extend the answer I gave my hon. Friend the other day.