§ MR. BLANE (Armagh, S.)asked the Secretary to the Board of Trade, Whether the Regulations of the Board of Trade (Ireland) require that a station be erected for the accommodation of the travelling public within at least every 10 miles of railway; whether complaints have reached him that on the Great Northern Railway (Ireland) there is no passenger station between Dundalk and Bessbrook, main line (the station at Mountpleasant being used occasionally for stone and lime traffic only), a distance, as indicated by the Company's official time tables, of 13 miles; whether he is aware that within the past 10 years the Board of Directors of this Company have been frequently petitioned by deputations, memorials, and letters requesting that a station be erected at Ballinagh Bridge, near Meigh, to accommodate the people of the very densely populated districts; and, whether, in view of the existing Laws and Regulations, the Board of Trade can take any steps to secure for the travelling public the facilities so urgently needed?
§ THE SECRETARY(Baron HENRY DE WORMS) (Liverpool, East Toxteth)The Board of Trade have no authority to require a Railway Company to erect stations at particular places. Nor is there any such provision as that to which the hon. Member refers in the General Acts, or in the Special Acts under which the Companies work. No complaints of the nature referred to have reached the Board of Trade, nor are they aware whether the Directors have been petitioned to erect a station at Ballinagh Bridge. The Board of Trade will communicate with the Company with reference to the hon. Mem- 214 bar's Question; but they have no compulsory powers in the matter.