§ MR. TUITEI beg to ask the President of the Board of Trade whether he is aware that the Midland Great Western Railway Company of Ireland have recently reduced their rates on coal, bran, oil cake, flour, oats, seeds, and manure in bags, to Mullingar to a competition rate with the rate on the Royal Canal, which runs alongside their system to that town, to the detriment of the bye traders on the canal; and whether, as the Canal is the property of the Railway Company, the Board of Trade will take steps to put in force Section 38 of the Railway and Canal Traffic Act, 1888, which makes it illegal for railway companies to charge competition rates in such cases?
§ MR. RITCHIEIf an application is made by any person interested in the traffic of the Canal, the Board of Trade well be happy to consider it under Subsection 3 of the Section referred to in the Question, with a view to putting the trader in a position to carry his complaint to the Railway and Canal Commissioners.