§ MR. KENNEDY () Westmeath, N.To ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland if he can now state whether the Department of Agriculture and Technical Instruction will exercise its powers under Section 17 of The Agriculture and Technical Instruction (Ireland) Act, 1899, of appearing before the Railway and Canal Commissioners on behalf of the boat owners on the Royal Canal, who feel aggrieved by reason of the tolls charged by the Midland Great Western Railway on canal traffic, when added to working expenses, being in excess of the freight charged on that company's railway for the same class of goods, thereby destroying the competition of the canal.
(Answered by Mr. Wyndham.) The Department has not yet completed its inquiries in this matter, and is unable at present to say whether action is practicable in the direction suggested.