SECOND READING. (Hansard, 2 March 1870)

§ MR. PLIMSOLL
, in moving that the Bill be now read the second time, said, that it was an endeavour to secure the comfort of eight-ninths of those who travelled by railway. In so doing they would consult not only the advantage of the passengers, but would promote the pecuniary interest of the railways themselves, as all improvements were certain to do in the long run; and therefore by providing foot-warmers for the use of their second and third-class passengers railway companies would increase instead of diminish their profits. Twenty-five years ago third-class carriages were open and without seats, and the consequence was that there were but few passengers; whereas now that they were covered and had seats and windows the number of passengers was enormously increased, and the revenue of the railways was correspondingly augmented. Let the railway companies, therefore, go on diminishing the discomforts of their third-class passengers, and they would find that they had more and more to divide among their shareholders. To prove the serious consequence of neglecting to provide some apparatus for warming the second and third-class carriages, he might mention that an official on one of the largest railways in England had informed him that during the recent 1113 severe weather the traffic upon his line had diminished by £2,000 per week, and, doubtless, there had been a similar reduction in the receipts of all other lines in the kingdom. He had been informed that the only obstacle that prevented many of the companies from adopting the method he suggested of adding to the comfort of their passengers was that they had entered into an agreement with other companies to provide foot-warmers solely for the use of first-class passengers, and were that restriction upon their free will removed, they would at once supply them, when necessary, to their second and third-class passengers. He was also informed by a railway authority that the expenditure involved in the matter would be comparatively trifling, because it was only the first cost of the bottles that was worth speaking about, the expense of providing hot, water at the various stations being next to nothing, while not a single extra servant would be required. It had been stated that if the third class were made too comfortable it would deplete the first class of its passengers; but people rode in the first class in summer, when no hot-water bottles were required, equally as they did in winter. Another objection that had been raised to his proposal was, that its object was beneath the dignity of Parliament. Well, but, Parliament had not thought it beneath its dignity to direct that smoking-carriages should be provided and to care for the comfort of cattle when travelling on a railway; and, surely, the comfort and the health of men, women, and children were of equal importance with that of cattle? The amount of suffering endured, especially by women, children, and invalids, was very great, especially in Lancashire, where the operatives were accustomed to work in a moist atmosphere the temperature of which was usually 70 degrees, which rendered them less able to resist the cold than hon. Members, who rode exclusively in the first class. By the latest Return, that for 1867, he found that while the first class passengers in that year were 31,000,000, the second and third-class passengers, taken together, numbered 254,000,000, and therefore his cause was respectable, inasmuch as it concerned the comfort of such a vast number of people. The remedy for the evil was perfectly easy, and many of the best 1114 companies were anxious that the Bill should pass. Believing that the change, if carried out, would be extremely beneficial to the public, he trusted the House would agree to the second reading of the Bill.

§ MR. DILLWYN
said, he gave the hon. Gentleman full credit for the best possible motives in introducing the Bill; but he was surprised that it did not occur to him that if the principle of the Bill should be once established it would be necessary to go much farther. The evils complained of arose more from want of warm clothing and proper food than want of foot-warmers, the allowance of two of which to each carriage would go a very short way indeed to relieve them. If the proposition now before the House should be agreed to, companies might for all he could see soon be required to supply their third-class passengers with hot brandy and water, hot luncheons, and railway rugs. He objected to the principle of the Bill, and for the reason that the railway companies had obtained their Acts subject to certain conditions which had been well considered with a view to the protection both of public and private interests. The bargain had been made; Parliament had already sealed its conditions, and shareholders had invested their money under them, and it would not now be right to impose additional liabilities upon them, and take money out of their pockets, to carry out the object of the hon. Member. The companies had been constantly adding to the comfort of their passengers of all classes, and they might safely be allowed to follow up that course without Parliamentary interference. Under these circumstances, he begged to move that the Bill be read a second time that day six months.

MR. NEVILLE-GRENVILLE
supported the Amendment. He did not see the necessity for imposing any new restrictions on companies, and thought it undignified for the House to waste its 1115 time so long in discussing whether warming pans should be placed in railway carriages.

MR. STAVELEY HILL
remarked that the fact of railway companies having of late years, of their own accord, greatly improved railway carriages where there were deficiencies in point of comfort, was a proof that they intended to go on in that course, and were determined to provide additional comforts where it was practicable. The present Bill would upset the systems on which railway companies had hitherto acted, and he believed that an examination of its details, as for instance, among many others, the requirement to provide these foot-warmers at stations where they could not be kept ready, would show that its working was totally impracticable.