MR. HINDE PALMERasked the President of the Board of Trade, Whether his attention has been directed to the recent Report of Captain Tyler as to the failure on one of the leading lines of Railway of the cord communication between passengers and guards; and, whether he intends to take any steps for ascertaining the best and most certain system of communication which can be used, in compliance with the 22nd section of the Regulation of Railways Act, 1868?
§ MR. CHICHESTER FORTESCUE, in reply, said, that since the receipt of Captain Tyler's Report this subject had been considered by the Board of Trade, and the opinions of the Inspectors of Railways taken upon it. It appeared, on the whole, that the cord system had, to a great extent, proved a failure, and that among the many remedies suggested an electric system of communication was most likely to prove successful. His hon. and learned Friend was not quite accurate as to the functions of the Board of Trade. They had no power of initiative, either with regard to devising or prescribing any particular system of communication. What they could do was to withdraw the provisional approval which was given to the cord communication now in use on the Railways, and to call upon the Companies to substitute some better arrangement, and propose it for the approval of the Board of Trade. That was the course he meant to take.