§ MR. DRAGE (Derby)I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether the Bill for the promotion of the Ofoten Bay Railway has now passed the Norwegian Parliament; whether the new trade route from Russia to the Atlantic thus sanctioned will seriously affect the Baltic shipping trade so far as the carriage of fish, butter, groceries, worked stone, and machinery is concerned; and whether any Report has been received from Her Majesty's Consul General at Christiania stating at 867 what date it is now expected that the railway in question will be completed to the ice-free harbour at Port Victoria?
MR. CURZONThe answer to the first Question is in the affirmative. It is difficult to give an answer to the second Question until the railway has been constructed and has come into operation. No Report has been received as to the probable date of the completion of the railway.