§ MR. COGHILL (Newcastle-under-Lyme)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he can say what class of vehicle it was that was chiefly responsible last year for the 147 deaths and 5,784 personal injuries resulting from accidents in the streets of the Metropolis; whether he is aware that during the same period only five passengers were killed on all the railways in the United Kingdom; and whether he will take steps for the better regulation and control of the street traffic?
§ MR. MATTHEWSThe number of personal injuries quoted in the question includes the 147 deaths reported. The greater number of accidents was caused by light carts, cabs, and vans. I should point out that the number of passengers killed on the railways in 1891 was 103-including 23 who were killed whilst cross, ing the line at stations. The Commissioner of Police is in constant correspondence 1529 with the Vestries and other Local Authorities in respect of the establishment of additional refuges or the removal to more suitable sites of those already existing, and on other matters relating to the safety of the streets of the Metropolis, with a view to the prevention of accidents.
§ MR. PARKER SMITH (Lanark, Partick)Can the right hon. Gentleman say what proportion of the accidents occurred in connection with vans so constructed that the driver could not see out of the side or back; and whether vans of this kind are allowed in any other city in the United Kingdom?
§ MR. MATTHEWSI cannot say whether vans of this kind are or are not allowed in any other city in the United Kingdom, or in the world. I cannot give any statistics of the kind the hon. Gentleman desires.