§ MR. FLYNN (Cork, N.)I beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury, in reference to the proposal to release the Great Southern and Western Railway Company from their promise to begin the construction of the Cork and Fermoy line on or before the 31st instant, whether the Treasury will ascertain the views of the traders and general public of the districts interested before consenting to release the railway company from their statutory obligation under the Act of 1899.
§ MR. AUSTEN CHAMBERLAINThe Treasury cannot release the company from any of its statutory obligations, and have never proposed to do so. This could only be done by Parliament itself, and such a proposal would have to be embodied in a Bill, upon which all the interests concerned would have an opportunity of having their case heard.
§ MR. AUSTEN CHAMBERLAINThe Treasury already have pretty full information on that subject. Perhaps it would be as well to defer any other question pending the statement of the First Lord of the Treasury presently.
§ MR. O'SHEEI beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury whether the Great Southern and Western Railway Company of Ireland have expressed their intention of constructing a line of railway from any point on their system in the county Waterford to connect with their branch lineat Youghal in case Parliament releases them from their engagement to construct the direct line from Fermoy to Cork as already sanctioned; if not, can he state on what conditions would the Treasury, in case the Fermoy 853 to Cork direct line is abandoned, assent to the payment of the £93,000 granted in respect of the county Waterford railway to the company.
§ MR. AUSTEN CHAMBERLAINThe answer to the first question is in the negative. The answer to the second question must depend upon the decision of Parliament upon the proposals brought before them, if any such proposals are made.
§ MR. GILHOOLY (Cork County, W.)I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether he is aware that the Hybrid Committee of 1898 reported in favour of the scheme of the Fishguard Company; and, having regard to the effect of such a scheme on the industries in the South of Ireland, and to the fact that the local boards in West Cork and South Cork and the fishing and other industries in the west and south of Cork are in favour of the construction of the connecting line through Cork, which would develop their several industries, and as the Great Southern and Western Railway Company, under the Amalgamation Act, 1900, were bound, as part of their scheme, to make the connection referred to, whether he will take steps to oblige them to do so and to make the Cork and Fermoy Railway.
§ MR. AUSTEN CHAMBERLAINI am aware of the facts stated by the hon. Member in these questions, but the pledge of the company to make the connecting line through Cork with the railways of the west and south was dependent upon their being able to secure the co-operation of the local authorities of Cork in the scheme, and this, as I understand, they have been unable to obtain. I fully appreciate the importance of this connecting line over the Lee to the industries of the South and West of Ireland, and have had evidence of the interest of those districts in the scheme which would give them an alternative route to England and a continuous line to Dublin. But I have unfortunately no power whatever to compel the company to make the connection, and I understand that the suggestion of the company to 854 substitute an obligation to construct a bridge over the Lee for the existing obligation to construct the Fermoy line does not meet with the approval of the hon. Gentleman, or his colleagues in the representation of the county and city of Cork.
§ MR. GILHOOLYMay I be allowed to say that the opinion in the county of Cork is in favour of the scheme.
§ MR. O'SHEEWill the Treasury insist on the immediate payment of the £93,000?
§ MR. AUSTEN CHAMBERLAINThat has nothing to do with the question.
§ MR. GOULDING (Wiltshire, Devizes)I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether, under the Amalgamation Act of 1900 or otherwise, there is any existing obligation on the Great Southern and Westerns Railway Company to construct a line between Cork and Fermoy or any connecting railway passing through Cork.
§ MR. AUSTEN CHAMBERLAINThe agreement scheduled to the Act of 1898 recited that the Fishguard and Rosslare Company and the Great Southern and Western Company had undertaken "the construction, with the sanction of Parliament and the cooperation of the local authorities in Cork and the railway companies west of Cork, of a line to connect the systems of the companies west of Cork with the system of the Fishguard Company and the Great Southern and Western Company." I am informed that the company has been unable to obtain the co-operation of the local authorities.
§ MR. T. M. HEALYI beg to ask the First Lord of the Treasury whether he is aware that the question of a through route between England and the South of Ireland occupied the attention of Hybrid Committees of this House in 1898 and 1899, and of a Joint Committee of Lords and Commons in 1900; and that the Committee of 1898 sanctioned the absorption by the Great Southern Railway Company of the Waterford and Lismore Company and the Lismore and Fermoy 855 Company, on an express pledge that the Great Southern Company would construct a line from Fermoy to Cork, and a further pledge to connect their system at Cork with the lines south of the river Lee; is he aware that the Committee, on 1st July, 1898, reported strongly in favour of the Bill, and, in addition to this report, took the further security of inserting in the Act temporary provisions for the construction of the Cork and Fermoy line, and placed on the company the statutory obligation of applying for powers to change the route in the next session; is he aware that the Act of 1899 expressly recited this statutory obligation and sanctioned the change of route without in any way relieving the company from its statutory obligation to connect at Cork with lines south of the River Lee; is he aware that in 1900 the Joint Committee of Lords and Commons sanctioned the absorption by the Great Southern Company of two other railway companies (the Waterford and Limerick Company and the Central Ireland Company) on the basis of its adherence to both the Parliamentary contracts of 1898 and 1899; is he aware that before this Amalgamation Bill passed this House the Secretary to the Treasury, on 26th July, 1900, stated he would require the immediate payment of the £93,000 payable to the Treasury in respect of one of the lines absorbed under the Rosslare Act, 1898, unless he received satisfactory assurances that the Cork and Fermoy Branch would be undertaken without further delay, and completed before August, 1904; is he aware that before the Third Reading of the Amalgamation Bill, on 1st August, 1900, the Secretary to the Treasury received assurances that the line would be commenced within twelve months, and therefore did not insist on the payment of the £93,000; is he aware that the Great Southern Company lately applied to the public bodies of Cork to excuse them from making the Cork and Fermoy line, but were refused; have the Treasury now sanctioned the attempt to escape from constructing this line; and will the Government, in view of the valuable concessions made by Parliament in three sessions to this company, and the non-enforcement of the payment of its debt 856 of £93,000, insist that its statutory obligations shall not be impaired.
§ MR. FLYNNIs it not the fact that the Cork Chambers of Commerce and Shipping, the Cork Corporation, and the Cork Harbour Board have passed resolutions protesting against this attempt of the Great Southern and Western to evade their obligations?
§ MR. GILHOOLYIs the right hon. Gentleman aware that several resolutions in favour of the alternative scheme have been passed by local bodies in the south and south-west of Cork?
§ THE FIRST LORD OF THE TREASURY (Mr. A. J. BALFOUR,) Manchester, E.As regards the last question, I understand what the hon. Gentleman means by "alternative scheme" is a route which would cross the river Lee at Cork. I am not quite sure how far the phrase "alternative scheme" is right, but there is no doubt the south and south-west of Ireland are naturally and very properly desirous of seeing this scheme carried out. As to the question on the Paper, there is no doubt that this company are pledged to construct the line from Cork to Fermoy, and the Treasury neither have the power, nor would they exercise it if they did possess it, of sanctioning any escape from that parliamentary obligation.
§ MR. T. M. HEALYWell, I beg to give notice that when the Great Southern and Western Bill comes up on Monday for Third Reading, I shall move its rejection unless the House gets a distinct pledge from the promoters that they will at once proceed with this line.