MR. LLOYD MORGAN (Carmarthen, W.)To ask the President of the Board of Agriculture whether he is in a position to state when the Report will be issued of the Departmental Committee appointed in April, 1904, to inquire into the rates charged by railway companies in Great Britain in respect of foreign and colonial farm produce, and to report whether there is any evidence to show that preferential treatment is accorded to such produce; whether the evidence taken will be printed and circulated as a Parliamentary Paper; and, if so, will the evidence already taken be circulated at an early date.
(Answered by Mr. Ailwyn Fellowes.) It is not possible, as yet, to state when this inquiry will be completed. Some difficulty has been experienced in obtaining evidence, and it is very desirable that the work of the Committee should not be brought to an end until the fullest opportunity has been given to those concerned to bring forward any complaints which they may have to make. The evidence will be printed and circulated as a Parliamentary Paper, but it would be undesirable that it should be presented except as a whole.