MR. GIBSON BOWLESTo ask the President of the Board of Trade, have the agreements as regards shipping made with the Cunard Company and with Mr. Pierpont Morgan, or the Atlantic Shipping Trust, been yet completed; when will he lay copies upon the Table of this House; if they are not completed, can he state the cause of the delay; and can he state when the evening promised for the discussion of these agreements during the present sittings will be given.
(Answered by Mr. Gerald Balfour.) The agreements have not yet been completed; they are complicated documents, the details of which have taken longer to settle than expected, and are still under consideration of the lawyers. I do not anticipate that the agreements can be laid upon the Table this session. The promise was to give an evening if desired after the agreements had been laid.