In the House of Commons on Monday Mr. Gibson Bowles
induced the Government to agree to a further inquiry into the harbour works at Gibraltar. Mr. Bowles, who has lately been at Gibraltar, is much moved by the fact that the new harbour there under construction appears to be completely commanded from the hills on the Spanish shore, and he desires that no more money should be spent till the Govern- ment has inquired whether the new harbour ought not to have been made on the other side of the rock. We think that the Government were right to grant the new inquiry, but it must not be supposed that Mr. Bowles has made any very startling or original discovery,—he does not, of course, pre- tend to have done so. Before the works now in progress were begun exactly the same point was raised, and after careful inquiry it was held that it was most important to have a new harbour, that it was extremely doubtful whether a satisfactory harbour could be made on the Catalan Bay side of the rock, and therefore, on the balance of evils, it was better to make the harbour where it is now being made, and risk the danger of artillery fire from the hills commanding the bay and town. It is possible, of course, that the experi- ence gained in South Africa may have entirely altered many aspects of the case, and, therefore, we think further inquiry may be wise; but, for ourselves, we expect the new inquiry to show that the present scheme, in spite of its obvious dis- advantages, is the best that could be adopted.
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