§ Commander BELLAIRSasked the President of the Board of Trade if any attempt has been made to appraise the cause of the decrease in the coasting trade since 1913 in the different directions of dock charges, wages, etc.; if he can state the chief causes and if he can give the comparative figures, excluding Ireland, for 1346W 1913 and 1924 of the tonnage carried in the coasting trade and on the railways?
§ Sir B. CHADWICKIt has not, up to the present, been deemed necessary to institute a special inquiry regarding the decrease in the coasting trade since 1913, which has no doubt been due in the main to the general shrinkage in trade which has taken place since the period immediately preceding the War. I have no information as to tonnage carried in the coasting trade. Information prepared by the Ministry of Transport shows that the aggregate tonnage carried on the railways in 1913 amounted to 364,420,000 tons, and in 1924 to 335,450,000 tons.