§ MR. DALYI beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether he is aware that a Bill was passed through Parliament last year empowering the making of a line of railway between Armagh and Kingscourt Ireland, and making a competing route with the Great Northern Railway between Armagh and Dublin; and that the promoters of the line of railway between Armagh and Kingscourt have sold their rights to make the line of railway between Kingscourt and Armagh, which, if carried out, would give a monopoly to the Great Northern Railway Company, which all the public bodies along the entire route protest against; and whether, under Clause 17 of the Agricultural and 1203 Technical Act, he will take any steps to prevent an arrangement between the promoters of the Kingscourt and Armagh Railway and the Great Northern Railway, which, if carried out, would injure an important manufacturing and agricultural district between Armagh and Kingscourt.
§ THE ATTORNEY GENERAL FOR IRELAND (Mr. ATKINSON,) Londonderry, N.At the request of my right hon. friend I will reply to this question. The matter to which the question relates is not one in which the Department of Agriculture have power to intervene under Section 17 of the Act of 1899.