HC Deb 09 August 1898 vol 64 cc650-1
MR. PIRIE

I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for War whether, in view of the establishment of a naval arsenal by Russia on the Kola River, and of the railway, which is in construction by that country to the ice-free harbour of Port Victoria, with the opening of a harbour at Ehahrina, whereby the present conditions in the northern seas will be seriously affected, the Government, having regard to the strategic, naval, and commercial advantages to be derived, will consider the advisability of adding as an instruction to the Commission about to be appointed to inquire into the Clyde defences to report at the same time on the question of enlarging the existing canal between the Clyde and the Firth of Forth into a sea canal similar to the one recently opened at Kiel?

MR. BRODRICK

This Question should be addressed to the First Lord of the Treasury.