§ SIR J. KINLOCHI beg to ask the President of the Board of Trade if he can say under what conditions the level crossing near the bridge of Earn, on the public road to Forgandenny is now worked; and if it is the case that this crossing was condemned as dangerous by Major Marindin, and that the North British Railway Company promised to erect a bridge?
§ *THE PRESIDENT OF THE BOARD OF TRADE (Sir M. HICKS BEACH,) Bristol, W.The railway upon which this level crossing exists was authorised in 1846, and the Act gives no power to the Board of Trade to order the abolition of the level crossing. In June of last year the District Road Trustees represented to the Board of Trade the need of a bridge and a deviation of the road. Major Marindin, after inquiry, reported that the road should be extended as proposed, and a footbridge be put up at the existing level crossing, or that an over-bridge be constructed in lieu of the level crossing—to which he saw no objection from an engineering point of view. He 792 thought the latter the best alternative' and suggested that the Trustees should subscribe one-fifth of the cost. The Directors have expressed their willingness to carry out the latter recommendation on the terms suggested.