§ SIR BARRINGTON SIMEON (Southampton)I beg to ask the President of the Board of Trade, whether he will decline to sanction any of the several sets of bye-laws proposed to be made by the War Office in respect of artillery practice ranges from Gilkicker Fort, Spit-bank Fort, St. Helen's Fort, Horse Sand and No Man's Land Forts, No. 2 Battery Stokes Bay Lines, Park-pool Battery, Lumps Fort, the Eastney Batteries, and Fort Cumberland, until 260 a public inquiry has been held by the Board of Trade under the provisions of the Artillery and Rifle Ranges Act, 1885, c. 36, sec. 3, sub-sec. (2); whether at such an inquiry not only the bye-laws above referred to shall be considered, but the War Office shall be requested to bring forward any bye-laws in respect of other places which they may have under consideration, and to state the extent to which such bye-laws will affect the sea areas proposed to be affected; and, whether at such an inquiry all persons who consider themselves to be affected by such bye-laws might have an opportunity of being heard?
§ MR. RITCHIEIt is intended that a local public Inquiry should be held with respect to the several sets of bye-laws proposed to be made by the War Office, in respect of artillery ranges in the neighbourhood of Portsmouth and the Isle of Wight, as soon as all the bye-laws at present proposed for ranges in that neighbourhood have been advertised. It will not be convenient to deal with bye-laws for ranges in other parts of the United Kingdom at the same Inquiry. I have no doubt that full information will be given at the Inquiry by the representatives of the War Office, as to the extent and effect of the proposed bye-laws. The Inquiry will be public, and all persons interested will be heard.