asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs if he will request the French authorities to place at the disposal of the Foreign Office the facts and evidence in connection with the Bolo trial: and whether he can give any information to this House as to the language which is employed in the documents sent between Mr. Bolo and his various accomplices in various countries?

The Bolo trial was fully reported in the French Press, and I am not disposed to ask the French Government for further information.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether any Committee has been appointed to study the question of the reconstitution and reorganisation of the foreign services in the light of the recommendations of the Royal Commission, in order that an improved system may be introduced at the earliest possible moment?

No such Committee has been appointed, but proposals in this direction have been made and are now under discussion with the Treasury.

Can the Noble Lord hold out any prospect that these proposals will be submitted to Parliament for discussion before their eventual adoption, as a policy, by the Foreign Office?

I do not think I can give any pledge of that kind. Of course, they will be open to discussion by the House. But it is very unusual to postpone a reform of this kind.

Are we then only to discuss a fait accompli?

Of course, if Parliament desires, the proposals can be a discussion: it is not like the law of the Medes and Persians. But I may assure the House that I am as anxious as any hon. Member to have reform in the direction indicated by hon. Members. My seeming reluctance is due to the fact that I am afraid of delay in the matter.

If, according to the answer of the Noble Lord, he cannot postpone the inauguraton of these reforms until Debate has taken place in this House, may I ask him whether he will, at least, make public the proposals of the Foreign Office before they are finally adopted?

I could not possibly give a pledge of that kind, but I shall be glad to discuss the matter with my hon. Friend.

Is not the Noble Lord aware that this Royal Commission—and its Report—is four years old, and therefore a possible delay of two or three weeks to allow the House to understand what the proposals are does not seem very unreasonable?

Is it not intended to introduce these reforms before the War is over?

I am in the hands of the Foreign Office, and cannot promise anything. But as far as I am concerned, I am anxious to see these reforms put through at the earliest possible moment.

Are these new arrangements concerned with purely diplomatic representatives or will there be commercial representatives amongst the Attachés?

That is a separate subject: that is also being dealt with. I hope that also is in an advanced stage of preparation.

May I ask that, at any rate, before those reforms are definitely decided upon, we shall have the opportunity of discussing the whole question in the House of Commons, if Members of the House desire it?

That is a question entirely for my right hon. Friend the Leader of the House. So far as I am concerned, I have no objection to a full discussion in this House. All I do think is that it must be left to the Government, who are responsible for administrative action: that any attempt to shift it on to the shoulders of the House of Commons is bound to lead to disaster.

Is it not the ease that, constantly, administrative reorganisation has been carried through without being submitted to this House for previous discussion?

I should have said it was almost universal.

asked the Chief Secretary for Ireland whether he is aware that there are coalfields in the north of Cork county at Dromagh which were at one time extensively worked and gave very considerable employment in the locality; whether these coalfields are quite adjacent to the Great Southern and Western Railway Company; and whether their resources and capabilities of working have been, or will be, investigated by the Government, with a view to relieving tonnage pressure and providing home supplies of a coal which has been proved to be useful for fuel and steam purposes?

Various unsuccessful attempts have been made in the past to work the anthracite coal seams in the neighbourhood of Dromagh, west of Banteer Station on the Great Southern and Western Railway. The last serious attempt was made in 1901 by the New Dromagh Mining Company, and they were unsuccessful in their efforts to find coal of commercial value. The anthracite coal found in the district generally contains sulphur and is, therefore, of poor quality; but one seam is said to be free from sulphur. According to the Memoirs (Nos. 174 and 175) of the Geological Survey of Ireland the thickness of the seams varies considerably, but, from a mining point of view, they may be regarded as "thin." The coal measures are also twisted and contorted, and dip at a high angle, and there does not appear to be much prospect of finding payable coal in this district even in view of the high prices at present prevailing.