§ MR. A. WILLIAMS (Glamorgan, S.)I beg to ask the President of the Board of Trade whether he is aware that for the last 30 years the Great Western Railway Company have derived a large revenue from the carriage of minerals and goods on the Ely Valley branch of their system; that the Ely Valley Railway Act authorised the construction of a railway for passenger as well as goods traffic; that the Great Western Railway Company have refused to afford any facilities for passenger traffic, though a large population has grown up in the district through which the Ely Valley Railway passes; and that the Railway Commissioners have reluctantly decided, in the case of the "County Council of Glamorgan v. the Great Western Railway Company," that they cannot order the Great Western Railway Company to run passenger trains or afford any facilities for passenger traffic on this line of railway; and whether he will take steps, by Bill or otherwise, which will render it impossible for Railway Companies to evade the duty of providing reasonable facilities for passenger traffic on lines which yield them large revenues from mineral and goods traffic, and which have become densely populated in consequence of or in connection with that traffic?
§ THE PRESIDENT OF THE BOARD OF TRADE (Mr. BRYCE, Aberdeen, S.)My attention has been called to the Judgment of the Railway Commissioners in the case referred to. I observe that Lord Cobham, at the conclusion of his remarks, said— 672
I hope that the time will shortly arrive when the converting of this line into a passenger line may commend itself to the Company as a matter of profit and of interest to themselves.No doubt the Great Western Railway will give due consideration to an opinion emanating from such a quarter. The Board of Trade have, however, no power to compel the Company to open the line for passenger traffic, and however clear the advantage may be in this particular case I am not at present in a position to propose any legislation on the subject.