MR. FIELDI beg to ask the President of the Board of Trade whether he is aware that on the Great Northern line, Ireland, it is the practice to detain cattle loaded at Kells or Navan for Drogheda until all the consignments for Belfast are taken away; and whether the Board of Trade can prevent, as a preferential treatment to consignors, the sending of live stock to the more distant terminus in the north.
§ MR. RITCHIEI have communicated with the Great Northern Railway Company (Ireland), and they inform me that their arrangements for the conveyance of cattle from the fairs at Navan and Kells are framed so as to best meet the requirements of the traffic, and that the stock which is going the long distance to Belfast and is intended for shipment the same night has necessarily to be loaded and sent away earlier than that which is going the shorter distance to Drogheda. They also state that the cattle for Drogheda is despatched at a proper time, having regard to its delivery to them and the completion of a train load, and that 721 they have received no complaints from any of the dealers or shippers. If any complaint on the subject is pressed, the jurisdication to deal with it would appear to be with the Railway Commissioners.