§ Mr. FIELDasked the President of the Board of Trade (1) whether, in view of the general principle that all through traffic between Ireland and England be dealt with in the Irish railway clearing house, he can state under what conditions the ports of Dublin, Belfast, and Londonderry are cleared in the London clearing house; whether he can explain why such exceptional treatment is allowed to those ports; and whether he will arrange that those ports shall be brought into agreement with the usual arrangements which prevail at Cork, Waterford, Wexford, Dundalk, Drogheda, Greenore, etc.; (2) whether, in view of the fact that the 68W powers conferred by Parliament precludes steam packet companies from having goods, passenger, and parcels through traffic between Ireland and England being dealt with in the London clearing house, he can explain under what circumstances the goods and parcel traffic between the Great Western of England and the Great Southern and Western of Ireland via Fishguard is treated exceptionally and cleared in the railway clearing house, London; whether he is aware that the passenger receipts from Ireland are dealt with in the Irish clearing house; and whether he will take measures to have the law complied with?
§ Mr. BURNSThe arrangements made among railway companies for clearing their traffic are not within the jurisdiction of the Board of Trade, but I have asked for the observations of the railway companies concerned upon my hon. Friend's question, and I will communicate with him on receipt of their replies.