§ Mr. SUMMERBELLasked the Under-Secretary of State to the Colonies, in the matter of railway extension in Trinidad, if he can state whether a Report has been presented of a line called the San Fernando Siparia extension estimated to cost £8,500 per mile; whether a Report was presented in regard to the rail in 1904 to 2143W cost £4,600 per mile; and, if so, can he explain the difference as to the two estimates?
§ Colonel SEELYThe Secretary of State is not in possession of any estimate of the cost of the San Fernando Siparia extension earlier than that contained in the Report of a Special Committee appointed in 1904 to consider the various schemes for railway extensions in Trinidad. The Report of that Committee was issued in 1906, and contained an estimate of the cost of the San Fernando Siparia extension at the rate of £8,500 a mile. My hon. Friend would appear to have taken the figure of £4,600 a mile from the same Committee's estimate of the cost of the Tabaquite-Poole extension. The general manager of the Trinidad Railways has recently revised the estimate for the San Fernando Siparia ex tension, and the cost is now estimated at £8,791 a mile.