§ MR. T. M. HEALYI beg to ask the President of the Board of Trade whether the staff of the Irish Railway Clearing House is being steadily reduced and that of the English Railway Clearing House greatly increased; whether he will call the attention of the Irish Railway Companies to the result on employment in Ireland, where work is scarce, of the policy which allows through traffic to and from Ireland to be cleared in London; is he aware that the Great Southern and Western Railway Company, since the late amalgamation Acts, have all their traffic viâMilford, which was formerly cleared in Dublin (except that of the Waterford and Limerick Company), now cleared in London, and that this change alone has caused a reduction in the staff of the Irish Clearing House: and will the Government do anything to bring pressure to bear on Irish railway companies to induce them to insist on Dublin clearances for Irish through traffic, so as to prevent a further reduction in the employment and salaries of Irish officials.
§ MR. GERALD BALFOURThe matters referred to in the Question are entirely outside the province of the Board of Trade, and I do not think it would be in the interest of the work of the Department that I should go out of my way to call the attention of the Irish Railway Companies to them.
§ MR. T. M. HEALYMay I ask whether the amalgamation of the railways has caused the transfer of a good deal of employment from Dublin to London; this is not a matter which affects the right hon. Gentlemen's Department.
§ MR. GERALD BALFOURCertainly not.
§ MR. T. M HEALYIs there no English Minister interested in the subject?
§ MR. GERALD BALFOURI cannot say.