§ MR. BAUMANN (Camberwell, Peckham)I beg to ask the President of the Board of Trade whether he will lay upon the Table all correspondence that has passed between the Board of Trade and the four southern Railway Companies with reference to the return of the running of their passenger trains recently presented to Parliament; whether he will find out if it is the custom of the southern Railway Companies to keep analyses of the punctuality of their trains, abstracted at regular intervals, for the information of the officers and the directors; and, if not, whether he will 1320 ascertain from what sources the figures in the above return were compiled; and, in the case of the South-Eastern Railway in particular, whether the times of arrival were taken at Cannon Street and Charing Cross respectively, or only as far as London Bridge?
§ THE PRESIDENT OF THE BOARD OE TRADE (Sir M. HICKS BEACH, Bristol, W.)I have no objection to lay on the Table the correspondence with the four southern Railway Companies with regard to the running of their trains. I understand from the South-Eastern Railway, the London and South-Western Railway, and the London, Brighton, and South Coast Railway Companies that they do not make any abstracts or analyses of the punctuality of their trains. The figures in the Return were compiled from the guards' daily reports. The South-Eastern Railway Company further state that the times of arrival were taken at Charing Cross and Cannon Street respectively, and not at London Bridge.