§ Mr. Wallacehad a question, of which he had last night given notice, to ask of the President of the Board of Trade, with reference to the Railway Companies who had, and those who had not, complied with that enactment of the Railway Act passed last Session, which provided for the efficient shelter from the weather of third-class passengers. He saw the right hon. Gentleman, late the President of the Board of Trade, opposite Perhaps, under the circumstances, the right hon. Gentleman would answer the question. He would rather have the information from his mouth than from an official return.
Mr. Gladstone(who spoke from one of the front Benches, half way between the Treasury Bench and the Bar) replied, that as the question applied to a provision of law which took effect some months ago, he could have no difficulty in answering it. The Railway Companies which came within the provisions of the Act of last Session, with reference to third-class trains at 1d. a mile, comprising nearly all the Railway Companies in the country, had nearly all complied with the provision of the Act in question. The complaints on the subject had been exceedingly few, and he believed that the public were, in general, satisfied with the manner in which the Companies had met the enactment of the law. Indeed, the Railway Companies, he was bound to say, had made every effort to meet the wishes of Parliament, and fulfil the provisions of the Act. He need not trouble the House by reciting the names of the Companies who had complied, as they comprised almost all the Railways in the country. The Board of Trade had not thought it necessary to insist upon the adoption of any one particular model for the carriages to form these cheap trains, but they did require that in all cases the enactments of the law should be complied with as to seats, and likewise that real and effective protection from the weather should be supplied, such protection being understood to be afforded when the carriages were capable of 134 being entirely closed, without preventing the admission of light and air. The House would be glad to hear that the purpose which it had in view, in passing the enactment in question, had been fully attained, and a great accommodation had been afforded to persons of the humbler classes, when formerly the accommodation they could command was very limited. He held in his hand the report of a meeting of the Grand Junction Railway Company, and he found the chairman, in his speech, observing that he felt gratified in being enabled to state that the Government measure of last Session as to cheap trains at 1d. per mile had, upon the Grand junction line, without materially injuring the receipts, been the means of conveying 2,500 persons per week of those classes who could not afford to pay the fates formerly charged. On the London and Birmingham Railway, also, within the last quarter, since the cheap trains had commenced running, they had carried 48,395 persons, making a probable average of 193,000 persons per year. The number of third-class passengers formerly carried, averaging no more than 65,000 per annum, thus showing that the number had been nearly trebled.—Subject at an end.