§ SIR G. BADEN-POWELL (Liverpool, Kirkdale)I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for the Colonies whether the rapid spread and great extent of the calamitous fire in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad, was attributable to inadequacy of the water supply; whether he is aware that some years ago the Local Authorities expressed the opinion that the existing water supply was quite inadequate to cope with any extensive fire, and that immediately before the breaking out of the recent fire a petition to Her Majesty the Queen was in course of signature in Port-of-Spain, praying that the water supply of the town might be made sufficient; and whether he can state what steps have been taken since 1890 to improve the said water supply?
§ THE UNDER SECRETARY FOR THE COLONIES (Mr. SYDNEY BUXTON, Tower Hamlets, Poplar)No details have yet been received of the fire. The question of the improvement of the existing water supply has for some time been under the consideration of the Local Authorities, but no scheme has yet been adopted. The matter has been lately placed in the hands of an eminent London Civil Engineer.