§ MR. J. BRIGG (York, W.R., Keighley)I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for India, whether he has any information as to the cause of the reported failure of rolled steel sleepers in use on the Indian State railways, or the other public railways in that country; and, if correct, whether such failure is confined to any particular district?
§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR INDIA (LORD GEORGE HAMILTON,) Middlesex, EalingSo far as my information goes, there are only three cases in which the employment of steel sleepers for Indian railways has given unsatisfactory results, and as regards two of these the cause is said to be the saline quality of the earth in which they are laid. In the third case the deterioration is attributed to some defects in the ballast and method of laying.