§ Mr. BARNSTONasked the President of the Board of Trade how many times railway companies have been challenged to show before the Railway and Canal Commission the justification of a rise of rates or withdrawal of facilities since the Railway and Canal Traffic Act of 1894 became operative; and in how many cases were the railway companies able to prove justification?
Mr. ROBERTSONA large number of complaints under Section 1 of the Railway and Canal Traffic Act, 1894, were withdrawn or settled before the hearing. Of the twenty-seven cases actually heard by the Railway and Canal Commission sixteen were decided in favour of the railway companies, and six against them, and in five cases the judgment was partly for the companies and partly for the complainants. Separate complaints which appear to have related to the same matter have been counted as one case in these figures.