MR. GIBSON BOWLESI beg to ask the First Lord of the Treasury, has the Report of the engineer, sent to Gibraltar in November, upon the data completed in April last, been now received; if so, can he state its conclusions regarding the eastern harbour recommended by the Gibraltar Committee in March, 1901, as an imperative necessity. Do His Majesty's Government propose, before acting on this Report, to submit it to Mr. Stevens, the master attendant at Gibraltar; and have His Majesty's Government meantime taken any steps to diminish the exposure to fire of the works on the western side, pointed out by Captain "Buckle in January, 1894, and by Major General Slade and General Sir George White in February, 1901, as making the docks and anchorage untenable, and as rendering it impossible for the Gibraltar garrison to ensure keeping Gibraltar open as a Naval base.
§ MR. A. J. BALFOURThe Report has been received, and is now under the consideration of the Board of Admiralty. I cannot at present make any statement as to the contents of the document, nor as to the steps which the Admiralty may think proper to adopt in connection with it. With regard to the last Question, I can only refer the hon. Member to what has already been said in both Houses on the subject. I cannot deal with it in answer to a Question.