§ MR. WEIRI beg to ask the Secretary for Scotland if he will state what amount of the £40,000 granted last year under "The Highlands and Islands (Scotland) Works Act, 1891," has been expended to date; and whether he will insist upon the Department created under this Act spending the whole of the grant upon useful works before the close of the financial year?
§ SIR G. TREVELYANThere has been expended up to date about £16,500, and the total expenditure up to the end of this month is estimated at about £24,000. I have explained to the House, in answer to previous questions, that great delay took place owing to the formalities required under the Highland and Islands Works Act; and that, at the point where several important schemes—such, for instance, as Portness Harbour, and Carloway Road and Carloway Harbour— have at present arrived the matter lies, not with the Department, but with the Local Authorities and the contractors whom they employ.