HC Deb 26 April 1901 vol 92 cc1459-60
* SIR JOHN COLOMB (Great Yarmouth)

I beg to ask the First Lord of the Treasury can he state whether the Commission or Committee appointed to inquire into the safety of the harbour and works on the western side of Gibraltar and the proposal to construct a harbour or works on the eastern side have yet sent in their Report; and, if so, when was it received; is the Report unanimously agreed to by the four members of the Commission or Committee, or is there any divergent Report by a minority of the members; and do His Majesty's Government propose to lay the Report upon the Table of this House; if not, do His Majesty's Government propose to communicate to the House the general purport of the Report; and, if so, when.

MR. A. J. BALFOUR

I understand that an interim Report has been presented to the First Lord of the Admiralty. A further meeting of the Committee is contemplated to consider some outstanding questions. I am not in a position to go into details in connection with this matter, but I may remind my hon. friend, as I said in the House on 28th February, that this inquiry was not to be considered as one by a Commission or Committee in the strictest sense of the word. There was no specific reference, and I could not pledge myself to there being any formal Report.