§ MR. W. E. M. TOMLINSON (Preston)I beg to ask the President of the Board of Trade if he has received any answer to the communications which he addressed to the Railway Companies Association, prior to the 26th July last, with reference to the withdrawal from circulation by the Clearing House Committee of Airey's sectional railway maps; and whether he has considered the desirability of the Board of Trade or some other Government Department undertaking the preparation and sale for public use of maps giving the distances in an authentic form along the lines of railway in the United Kingdom for the use of traders?
§ MR. RITCHIEI regret that the correspondence with the Railway Companies Association has not led to any satisfactory result. The Association hold that the question of the publication of these maps is one for the consideration of the Committee of the Railway 790 Clearing House. I cannot hold out any hopes that the Government will undertake the preparation of such maps.