§ MR. BENN (Tower Hamlets, St. George's)I beg to ask the President of the Board of Trade whether he is aware that the London, Brighton, and South Coast Railway Company's ordinary first and second-class passenger 1250 maxima were raised ¼d. per mile by the Act (Local and Personal) of 1868, c. 134; that these maxima are higher than those of the London and North-Western Railway Company and many other Companies; that the Company runs more trains without third-class carriages attached than all the other railways of England put together; and that competition with the South Eastern Railway Company is precluded by an agreement sanctioned by the Act of 1890, c. 39; and whether he will undertake to introduce a clause in the Company's Bill now before Parliament which shall provide for a return to the Company's former passenger maxima, and also for the carriage of third-class passengers by all the Company's trains?
§ MR. MUNDELLAThe Board of Trade have not received complaints as to the manner in which the London, Brighton, and South Coast Railway manage their passenger traffic. I am not prepared to introduce a clause into a Bill of a particular Company to repeal fares which have already received the sanction of Parliament. To compel this Company to carry third-class passengers by all trains would impair the facilities, both as to expedition and cost, afforded by the Company to the public.