238 RAILWAY RATES AND CONDITIONS 



Parliament, and requested the President of the Board of 

 Trade to call for the publication of the terms of all joint 

 arrangements made by any of the companies with reference 

 to merchandise. Another resolution dealt with the pre- 

 ferential treatment accorded to foreign imports, and asked 

 the President of the Board of Trade to receive a deputation 

 on these points. 



This deputation was received on 21st March, when the 

 Council were again represented. Mr. Lloyd George's reply 

 was considered to be not unsatisfactory, and taken in con- 

 junction w r ith subsequent replies given to questions put to 

 him in the House of Commons, by Sir Francis Channing and 

 others, it appeared that he had grasped the importance of 

 the subject, and that his sympathies were with the traders. 



At the request of the Leicestershire Chamber, the Council 

 opposed the Midland Railway Bill, which sought for power 

 to close the Butterley Tunnel on the Cromford Canal. Sir 

 Francis Channing moved an instruction to the Committee 

 to which this Bill was referred to the effect that " all refer- 

 ences in the Bill to the abandonment of this tunnel be 

 omitted." A whip was issued by the Parliamentary Com- 

 mittee, and when the Bill was committeed the instruction 

 was agreed to. 



19O8. 



A report from the Railway Committee which the Council 

 adopted on 28th January announced that they had filed an 

 objection to the Working Agreement between the Great 

 Northern and Great Eastern Railway Companies, which was 

 to be submitted to the Railway Commission. Objections 

 were also filed by other agricultural associations, by the 

 Board of Trade, and by other railway companies. The 

 Commission sat on 26th February, taking the objection of 

 the Midland Company first. The ground of their objection 

 was that under their Act the Great Northern was acting 

 ultra vires. The Court agreed, and the case was dismissed. 

 The two companies appealed, but on 10th March the Court 

 of Appeal upheld the previous decision. It was later 



