§ MR. CHANNING (Northamptonshire, E.)I beg to ask the President of the Board of Trade whether it is the fact that the only brake in use on the Great Northern of Ireland Railway is a simple vacuum brake which can only be applied by the driver, which is not self-acting, and cannot arrest the motion of detached carriages or portions of trains; whether the same brake is in use on the Dublin, Wicklow, and Wexford, Great Southern and Western, and Midland Great Western lines; that of these four principal lines in Ireland only one, the Midland Great Western, has a brake which is self-acting and complies with the conditions laid down in the Board of Trade Circular of 1877, and that only applied to six vehicles; whether it is a fact that on the English lines, of the total rolling stock, 18 per cent are still without any continuous brake, and 22 per cent are fitted with brakes which do not comply with the conditions laid down by the Board, and that on the Scotch lines 40 per cent of the vehicles are not fitted with continuous brakes, and the vehicles of one company, the Highland, are fitted with a brake which is not self-acting; whether his attention had been drawn to the Circular issued by the President of the Board of Trade twelve years ago, in which he stated that there was no reason far any further delay, and that the Board felt it their duty to urge upon the railway companies the necessity for arriving at an immediate decision and united action in the matter, and to the fact that since 1877 the Inspectors of the Board have, in their Reports on many hundred accidents, repeatedly recommended the general use of automatic brakes on passenger trains; and, whether, having regard to the unexampled loss of life in the accident near Armagh, and to the circumstances of that accident, he will reconsider his recent reply as to the extension of the powers of the Board of Trade to enforce their recommendations and proceed with his promised legislation immediately. I wish to ask the right hon. Gentleman also whether his attention has been called to the Resolution passed yester- 119 day by the Corporation of Dublin, asking Parliament to speedily adopt measures to provide against the recurrence of any such calamity?
§ * SIR MICHAEL HICKS BEACHIn reply to the last question of the hon. Member, I have to say that I have seen a report of the proceedings of the Dublin Corporation in the Press. The facts are practically as stated in the question of the hon. Member, except that, in the second paragraph, he has substituted the Midland Great Western for the Great Southern and Western, which has the automatic vacuum on one engine and six vehicles. I have, of course, seen the Circular of the 30th August, 1877, referred to, and the Reports of the inspecting officers. I cannot, as yet, form an opinion how far the recent terrible accident near Armagh may have been due to the want of an automatic brake or to any cause which legislation could prevent in the future. But if the opinion pointed to in the hon. Member's question should be borne out by General Hutchinson's report, I will certainly consider whether it may not be possible to deal with the subject during the present Session. I should hope that, in such an event, a Bill for the purpose would not be considered to fall within the category of fresh controversial matters of importance, which I should be precluded from undertaking by the statement made yesterday by the leader of the House.