§ 67. Mr. WILESasked the President of the Board of Trade if he has any power to prevent the Port of London Authority from granting preferential dues or allowances on vessels or goods solely by reason of the annual amount of dues or allowances payable by such person?
§ Mr. BURNSSection 15 of the Port of London Act provides that all dues imposed by the Port Authority shall be charged equally in respect of all vessels of the same description carrying the same description of goods under the same circumstances, or in respect of all goods of the same description under the same circumstances in the same dock. The Port Authority have informed me that no preferential rates in violation of that section are in practice. The only powers which the Board of Trade possess with regard to the matters referred to in the question are those conferred by Section 27, under which any person who thinks the 549 Port Authority are acting in a manner unfairly oppressive to him by reason of the mode in which they carry on their dock or warehousing business can appeal to the Board of Trade.