§ 42. Mr. WILLIAM NICHOLSONasked the President of the Board of Trade whether his attention has been called to the practice of the London and South Western Railway diverting coal trucks belonging to coal merchants which are being sent back to collieries for coal and other traffic; whether he is aware that the shortage of coal at Alton, Hants, is chiefly due to this practice; whether the Coal Controller had arranged with the railway company that no truck belonging to coal merchants owning less than twenty trucks should be taken by the railway company for their own traffic and that, in spite of this arrangement, Messrs. Sayers and Cox received a notice, on Saturday, 10th May, stating that their truck No. 20 had been taken for convey- 1753 ance of traffic from Nine Elms to Southampton; and whether he will take the necessary steps to see that the railway company keep the arrangement made by the Coal Controller?
§ Mr. BRIDGEMANI understand that Messrs. Sayers and Cox have already been in communication with the Controller of Coal Mines with regard to the wagon to which the hon. Member refers, and that as a result of inquiries addressed to the railway company it has been ascertained that the wagon in question was loaded back to Southampton under a misapprehension. There is no arrangement exempting wagons belonging to merchants owning less than twenty trucks from the operation of the Private Owners' Wagons (Use when Empty) Order, 1917, nor would it be practicable to make such an arrangement, but the railway company state that they have taken steps to prevent a recurrence of cases such as that of which complaint is made. As my right hon. Friend informed the hon. Member on Monday last, inquiries are being made into the supply of coal to Alton; in the meantime, an emergency supply of 50 tons has been dispatched.