§ MR. LENG (Dundee)I beg to ask the President of the Board of Trade whether he is aware that it is the custom at many of the railway stations in the North of Scotland to issue passenger tickets only two or three minutes before trains are due, thus putting passengers to great inconvenience, and some danger, when they have to cross the railway to catch trains; whether the law requires that ample time should be given for procuring passenger tickets; and whether Railway Companies incur any penalties for not issuing tickets to passengers in reasonable time before the departure of trains?
§ * SIR M. HICKS BEACHI have no official information on this subject. I have no reason to doubt that if too short a time is allowed for the issue of tickets at stations it would be productive of inconvenience, and might lead to some-danger. The matter is not one in which I have any statutory power to interfere. The issue of tickets is in the hands of the Railway Companies, who are not under any legal obligations in respect to the time allotted for the purchase.