§ MR. GREGORYasked the President of the Board of Trade, Whether his attention has been directed to the Report of Accidents on Railways in the United Kingdom during the year 1877, and the renewed recommendation contained in such report of continuous footboards to the carriages; and, whether he proposes to take any steps for giving effect to such recommendation?
MR. J. G. TALBOTSir, in the absence of my noble Friend, I can assure my hon. Friend the Member for East Sussex that our attention has been directed to the Report he refers to, which is, in fact, the Report of our own Department, and to the recommendations therein contained. Lord Henniker, who represents the Board of Trade in the House of Lords, was instructed to inform a noble Lord, in answer to a Question on the subject of continuous footboards, that we were preparing a circular letter to the various Railway Companies on this matter. That letter has now been prepared, and if my hon. Friend will move for it, I shall be happy to lay it upon the Table.