Mr. SCAN LANasked the President of the Board of Trade whether he has received a petition from trading companies and business people in Belfast, Lurgan, and the counties of Derry, Antrim, and Tyrone, and also from merchants and manufacturers in Lancashire, calling his attention to the hardships inflicted on trade, industry, and commerce in Ulster and Lancashire by the continuing suspension of the steamship services between Belfast and Heysham and Belfast and Fleetwood; will he state what steps, if any, he proposes to take to bring this strike to an end; and whether he is aware of the fact that the workmen are still, as they have been since the commencement of the strike, quite prepared to submit to arbitration, but that settlement by arbitration is rendered impossible by the conduct of the railway companies owning the ships involved who have from the inception of the strike to the present time refused to have the dispute decided upon by any arbitrator selected by the Board of Trade?
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Mr. HARCOURTI would call the hon. Gentleman's attention to the replies given on the 22nd June to questions on this matter by the hon. Baronet the Member for Mid-Armagh and the hon. Member for West Down, of which I am sending the hon. Gentleman a copy.