§ Mr. GUINEYasked the President of the Board of Trade (1) if he will cause inquiry to be made into the financial condition of the Kanturk and Newmarket Railway Company, county Cork, with a view to relieving the ratepayers of the Kanturk rural district of the sum paid annually by them in support of the guarantee given by the grand jury; and (2) if he will cause inquiries to be made into the legality of the guarantee given by the grand jury of the county of Cork for the construction and upkeep of the Kanturk and Newmarket Railway; whether this was a guarantee for a limited number of years; and what were the reasons adduced on amalgamating this railway with the Great Southern and Western Railway which made this a guarantee in perpetuity?
Mr. BUXTONThe guarantee referred to was authorised by the original Act of 1887, under which the railway was constructed, and the period of its operation was not limited except in the event of the line being closed for public traffic. The provisions of the Act of 1887 in this respect were merely continued by the Act of 1892, which authorised the dissolution of the Kanturk and Newmarket Railway Company and the transfer of the railway to the Great Southern and Western Railway Company. The accounts of the undertaking are examined half yearly by arbitrators appointed pursuant to the Acts named, but the Board of Trade have no power to hold such an inquiry as that suggested.