§ MR. COGHILL (Newcastle-under-Lyme)I beg to ask the President of the Board of Trade whether it is true, as reported in the Birmingham Daily Post of 4th March, 1890, that the cost of the Railway Rates Inquiry has been at the rate of £10,000 a day; what proportion of the cost has been borne by the traders, what by the Railway Companies, and what by the country; and whether it was contemplated when the Railway and Canal Traffic Act of 1888 was passed, that such a long period would elapse before its provisions came into operation?
§ *SIR M. HICKS BEACHI have no means of knowing what is the total cost per diem of the Railway Rates Inquiry, nor have I any means of ascertaining what cost is incurred by the traders or the Railway Companies. But I cannot suppose that it reaches anything like the amount mentioned. The charge which falls upon the Public Funds is limited to the expenses connected with the hiring of a room, shorthand writers' notes, printing of proceedings, and the salaries of a few temporary clerks; but a portion, if not the whole, of this charge will be met by the fees paid by the Railway Companies on the deposit of their respective schedules. As regards the length of the inquiry, Lord Balfour of Burleigh and Mr. Courtenay Boyle have used their best endeavours to shorten the proceedings as much as possible; but a large number of traders have desired to come before them whom they have not thought it compatible with their duty absolutely to decline to hear. There have been 33 witnesses for the Railway Companies, and up to yesterday, when the evidence closed, 178 witnesses for the traders.