§ Mr. WALTER M'LARENasked the President of the Local Government Board whether his attention had been called to the proposal to take brine in large quantities in pipes from the Cheshire salt districts to the vicinity of the Manchester Ship Canal for the manufacture of salt; whether he is aware that damage to lands and buildings is caused by brine pumping in Cheshire; and whether, seeing that Parliament has for many years prevented the removal of brine from the Cheshire salt districts by inserting restrictive clauses in Railway and Canal Acts, and by rejecting the Preamble of a Bill seeking to sanction the removal of brine outside the county of Cheshire, and that the present proposal will affect the towns of Northwich, Wins-ford, Middlewich, and Sandbach, by continuing the effects of subsidence without the compensating advantage of trade and employment, he will cause full inquiry to be made into the circumstances of the 1940W case, and take such steps as may be possible to prevent this proposed removal of the brine?
§ Mr. BURNSMy attention has been called to this proposal, and I have heard statements in regard to it made by the local authorities concerned. I propose shortly to hear the other side of the question from the representatives of the Salt Union. Until I have heard both sides it would, I think, be premature to consider what steps, if any, I should take in the matter.