§ * MR. REESI beg to ask the President of the Board of Trade whether he is aware that more than half the railway stock of the United Kingdom is held in parcels of £500 and under, and that the average return is 3¼ per cent.; and 1044 whether in view of these facts, and of the serious results to multitudes of small investors from interference with the rights of the railway companies to make combinations and mutual arrangements, he will take into account and consider their case on each and every occasion on which he is urged by other interests to disapprove or disallow such combinations or mutual arrangements.
§ MR. CHURCHILLIf my hon. friend means that half the separate holders of railway stock are holders of stock not exceeding £500, I have no reason to doubt the approximate accuracy of his figures. As regards the last part of the Question, I cannot add to the Answers I gave to his Question of the 11th instant, and to that of my hon. friend the Member for Dudley of the 4th instant.