§ MR. HUDSON KEARLEY (Devonport)I beg to ask the President of the Board of Trade why his Department, which between 1888 and 1894 made four Reports to Parliament as to its proceedings under Section 31 of the Railway and Canal Traffic Act, 1888, has allowed nearly three years to elapse since the last Report as to the success attending the Board's efforts at conciliation between the Railway Companies and complainant traders was published; and, when the next Report on this subject may be expected?
§ MR. RITCHIEA very large number of complaints were made to the Board under the Railway and Canal Traffic Act, 1894, and the Department had hoped to include them all in one Report. The fate of a large number of these cases, however, has depended on the result of litigation before the Railway and Canal Commissioners, which is not even yet at an end, and the Board have, therefore, come to the conclusion that it would be inexpedient to longer defer making a Report. A draft has been prepared and is in type.