MR. GIBSON BOWLESI beg to ask the First Lord of the Treasury whether he can now say when the Report of the engineer sent to Gibraltar to report on the harbour on the eastern side of the Rock, recommended by the Gibraltar Committee in March, 1901, and whose Report was being drawn up on 6th June last, will be completed, and when it will be presented to this House; and are any steps being taken meantime to diminish the exposure to fire of the works on the western side, pointed out by the Gibraltar Committee and by the military authorities of Gibraltar.
§ MR. A. J. BALFOURThe Report to which my hon. friend refers has been received and is already engaging the attention of the Board of Admiralty. Both that and the question of the armament of the forts is receiving, and will receive, the careful attention of the Government.
§ MR. A. J. BALFOURI am not sure, but I will inquire of my noble friend the First Lord of the Admiralty whether the Report is one which could, under any circumstances, be published. If my hon. friend will put a Question to me later on I will answer it. In any case, it cannot be published until we have given it more consideration than we have been able to do up to the present.