§ MR. GALLOWAY (Manchester, S. W.)I beg to ask the First Lord of the Treasury whether he will state how many vessels included in the recent North Atlantic Shipping Combine have been employed directly or indirectly for the transport of troops, stores, horses, or mules by the English Government or by any of the Colonial Governments during the present war; and, in the event of these ships or any of them passing under the direct control of a Foreign Power, what steps the Government propose to take to obtain transports that would be available by this country under similar circumstances in the future.
§ MR. A. J. BALFOURI understand that twenty-one transports on time have been chartered, besides eleven freight ships for conveyance of troops and horses and 385 stores exclusively employed for a specified voyage from companies which have joined the combination.