§ MR. CHANNINGI beg to ask the President of the Board of Trade whether he has considered the Report of Major Marindin as to the collision at Tain, on the Highland Railway, and the reference in that Report to the excessive hours worked by the signalman at Tain in alternate weeks, and to the excessive hours worked by the guard and brakesman of the up mixed train on alternate days, and to the alternate intervals of rest; whether he has issued any special Order to the Company under "The Railway Hours Act, 1893;" and whether he will in any such Order direct the Company to so re-arrange the work as to avoid the undesirable practice of alternating short days of work with excessively long days of work?
§ MR. BRYCEI have considered the Report referred to by my hon. Friend. As a preliminary step under the Act of 1893, the Highland Railway Company have been asked for a Return of the booked and actual hours of all the guards and brakesmen working between Helmsdale and Inverness. When the Board of Trade deal with this Return considera- 595 tion shall be given to the important point very properly raised in the concluding paragraph of the question.