To ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland whether he can state if during the Chief Secretaryship of Mr. Gerald Balfour, and at the request of the Government, a report on the Irish railways was made by the late Mr. Robertson, the then Chairman of the Board of Works in Ireland; whether this Report favoured the idea of State purchase of all the Irish railways; whether it is still in existence and in possession of the Government or any of its departments; and, if so, whether it will be submitted with any other official Reports made on the same subject to the Viceregal Commission now considering the Irish railway problem. (Answered by Mr. Birrell.) I have no information that any Report of the nature referred to was ever made by Mr. Robertson. There is no record of such a Report either in the Chief Secretary's Office, or in that of the Board of Works.
MR. HAYDEN