said, he would beg to ask the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Whether he has received any information as to a projected offensive and defensive alliance between France, Belgium, and Holland, or of any combination of those powers, for purposes hostile to Prussia and Germany?

said, in reply, that he had yesterday seen the Belgian Minister upon the subject to which the Question related; and he, Baron Dujardin, was authorized by his Government to state, that so far as Belgium is concerned, there is no foundation whatever for the report to which the Question of the hon. Member referred. He understood no proposition of the kind comprised in the Question had been made by France or Belgium, either officially or unofficially. He had received from the Hague a similar statement—namely, that the report was unfounded—but couched in more general terms.

said, he wished to ask the First Commissioner of Works, Whether, for the convenience of Foreigners and other Visitors to London, he will cause at each of the park gates the name of the gate to he written legibly and conspicuously?

said, in reply, that he was not aware that any inconvenience had arisen to foreigners from the names of the gates not being painted up; but there would be no objection, when the notice boards required re-painting, to place the names of the different parks at their head.

said, he wished to ask the Secretary to the Treasury, Whether the Commissioners of Woods and Forests, with the sanction of the Treasury, have abandoned the scheme of forming a new wide street immediately opposite the Horse Guards, from Whitehall, through Whitehall Yard to the Thames Embankment, as planned by Mr. Pennethorne, in his Report of the 24th April 1868, and stated by him to form a handsome approach to the Embankment from Buckingham Palace, the Park, and the Horse Guards, with the Public Offices South thereof, and to furnish fine sites available for the erection of public buildings, or for private houses and offices, and that the said street passes wholly through Crown property, the leases of which have all terminated; whether the Commissioners of Woods and Forests have so determined in consequence of the Metropolitan Board of Works having decided not to make the street opposite the Horse Guards at the expense of the Metropolis, but to make a thoroughfare to the Embankment through Whitehall Place; and, whether the Treasury is not of opinion that if the new street be formed through Whitehall Yard, as designed by Mr. Pennethorne, it would nearly double the present value of the Crown property through which it passes?

said, that his hon. Friend (Mr. Sclater-Booth) had left town, and that he was not able to answer the Question for him.

said, he would beg to ask the First Lord of the Treasury, Whether it would not be a desirable and appropriate completion of the provision made by Parliament for the support of the title conferred on Lord Napier of Magdala, if a pension equivalent to that already granted by Parliament was made to extend to Lady Napier, in case of any unforeseen contingency?

said, in reply, that the provision that had been made by Parliament on the recommendation of Her Majesty for Lord Napier of Magdala, in consideration of his eminent services, had been well considered by Her Majesty's Government with reference to all the circumstances; and therefore he could not hold out any hope that the matter would again be open to consideration.

said, he wished to ask the Chief Secretary for Ireland, Whether the attention of the Irish Government has been called to a statement by Mr. George Francis Train's solicitor, that he applied to the Chief Clerk of the Court of Judge Miller, of Dublin, for leave to file an affidavit of Mr. Clark Bell, the solicitor, who paid Mr. Henry the Ebbw Yale Company's claim, being the debt for which Mr. Train is now detained in prison, in order that Mr. Train might be in time to make application on the 29th instant to Judge Miller for his discharge, being the last day on which Judge Miller would sit before the end of the long vacation in November next, and which application would be grounded on the affidavit then presented to him; but that the Chief Clerk in the most peremptory manner refused to receive the affidavit on the files of the Court, on the pretext that the same was not in proper form, and not written on paper prescribed by the rules of the Court; that the affidavit of Mr. Clark Bell was sworn to at Venice, Italy, by Mr. Train, before the British Consul; and whether, if such statement be correct, the Irish Government will recommend that the case of Mr. Train be referred to the Master of the Court of Exchequer in Ireland, in order that the facts and circumstances connected with Mr. Train's continued imprisonment may be inquired into, with a view to his discharge, should it appear that such imprisonment is unjust?

said, in reply, that neither his attention nor that of the Irish Government had been called to this case. The hon. Member must be aware that the Executive Government had no power to interfere in the proceedings of Courts of Justice, and therefore it would be highly improper were the Government to institute any inquiry into the matter. He might, however, state that the hon. Gentleman must be labouring under some mistake, as he found that the case was set down for hearing for that day.

said, he would beg to ask Mr. Chancellor of the Exchequer, Whether, with regard to Benefit Societies, the sum at which mortgages would be taxable under the Inland Revenue Act would be £200 or £500?

said, in reply, that the effect of the Inland Revenue Act would take away the exemptions from taxation of loans by Benefit Societies to strangers, but the exemption would be continued in favour of advances not exceeding £500 made by those Societies to their own members.

said, he would beg to ask the Secretary of State for War, Whether he has made any inquiry into the circumstances to which he had drawn his attention the other day, of the Household Brigade being kept out in the heat on Wormwood Scrubs from eight in the morning until half past two o'clock in the afternoon, the result being that seven men had to be carried off the ground in vans, and seven or eight others had to be sent to the Hospital?

said, in reply, that he had made inquiries, and that he had been unable to obtain any confirmation of the rumour.

said, that the story of a number of the household cavalry having had to be sent home in cabs, and taken into the hospital after the field-day at Wormwood Scrubs on Tuesday week, was, so far as he could ascertain, without foundation.

Well, I can assure you that it is true.

Will the right hon. Gentleman state of whom he made his inquiries?

said, he would beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, Whether his attention has been called to several cases of persons dying in Coldbath Fields Prison during the period of their incarceration, and that the verdicts of the Coroner's Inquests were such as to warrant further inquiry; and, if not, whether he will institute an inquiry into the subject?

said, in reply, that he had made inquiry for the purpose of ascertaining the truth of a statement that several prisoners had died in Coldbath Fields Prison under circumstances that had induced the Coroner's Juries to return verdicts which called for further inquiry. He was informed that one adverse verdict had been given, and he intended to make further inquiry into the matter.

said, he was desirous of learning, Whether the noble Lord the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs has had any communication from the Envoy of China with regard to the Treaty of Tientsin?

said, he had received no such communication. He was not aware when the gentleman referred to was expected in this country.