§ MR. BRUNNER () Lancashire, LeighTo ask the President of the Board of Trade whether his notice has been called to the fact that the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Company, who recently obtained from Parliament power to work steam vessels carrying cargo between the 1044 Port of Goole and various Continental ports, have given instructions that coal traffic destined for their own steamers is to have priority in berthing and loading facilities over coal traffic carried by steamship owners other than themselves, and destined for both English and Continental ports, by the allocation to such traffic destined for the railway company's steamers of one of the coal-loading berths at Goole; and whether the Board of Trade are prepared to take steps to prevent the railway company from persisting in a course seriously detrimental to the interests of other shipowners and traders using the port of Goole.
§ (Answered by Mr. Kearley.) I understand that the docks at Goole are owned by the Aire and Calder Navigation Company, but that there is a hoist at the docks belonging to the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Company. A question has arisen between the railway company and other steamship owners as to the use of this hoist, and the matter is now before the Court of the Railway and Canal Commission.