§ MR. BOWEN ROWLANDS (Cardiganshire)I beg to ask the President of the Board of Trade whether he is aware that, on 12th April in this year, a telegraph boy named Mackan was 124 knocked down and injured by an engine on the sidings near the fish stage on the premises of the Great Western Railway Company at their station at Neyland, Pembrokeshire; whether this accident happened at or near to the place at which, on 22nd April, 1887, a boy named Rees was run over by an engine and killed; whether his attention has been called to the Report of Colonel Rich (dated 22nd July, 1887), after an inquiry held by him on behalf of the Board of Trade into the circumstances which attended the death of Rees, in which he states that the railways and station yard of the Great Western Railway Company at Neyland were in a most dangerous state, and recommended, amongst other things, that the Company be urged to build a footbridge for the safety of their own servants and of the numerous labourers employed at the station, as well as of the public at large; whether there are now several hundreds of persons employed at the fish stage at Neyland; whether the Railway Company have neglected or refused to carry out Colonel Rich's recommendations; and whether the Board of Trade will take any steps for the protection of life and limb at this station, and in furtherance of the measures urged on the attention of the Company by Colonel Rich?
§ THE PRESIDENT OF THE BOARD OF TRADE (Sir M. HICKS BEACH,) Bristol, W.I have received from the Company a statement signed by the boy MacKeen, from which it appears that he was not struck by the engine, but having crept under the ticket platform in taking a short cut across the Neyland Station Yard, he drew back suddenly on seeing the approaching engine and struck his forehead against the woodwork of the platform, slightly cutting his face. This occurred about 50 yards from the spot where the fatal accident happened in April, 1887. The Board of Trade have no power to compel the Company to erect a bridge; but negotiations with this object are being conducted, which I hope will end in the removal of the danger at present existing, and I understand that the Company are making considerable alterations in their Neyland Station, which will, I hope, when completed, go far to meet the other recommendations contained in Colonel Rich's Report.