§ MR. D. KILBRIDE (Galway, N.)I beg to ask the President of the Board of Trade, with reference to the local crossing on the Waterford and Limerick Railway within half a mile of Miltown station, whether he is aware that there is on the entrance a self-closing gate which closes with much force, and that the gate is so dangerous that a child named John Godfrey lately got caught between the gate and the post, and that children going to school have often to return home, being unable to open the gate; whether he is aware that in a recent case at Petty Sessions, Miltown, the magistrate-s declared that the state of this crossing rendered it dangerous to travel on this line of railway; and, whether he will make inquiry and see that portion of the award of the recent arbitration relating to level crossing and gate lodge is carried out in respect of this crossing?
§ MR. RITCHIEI have little to add to my reply to the hon. Member's Question of the 26th August 1895, which presumably related to this crossing. The Company inform me that the level crossing gate is an ordinary one, and that they have no knowledge of the case of Godfrey or of children being unable to open the gate. They have, however, knowledge of prosecutions instituted and fines inflicted on persons for omitting to shut the gate and allowing cattle to trespass on the line. The Company can give me no information as to the case at Miltown Sessions. If the hon. Member will give me all the facts at his disposal I will cause them to be examined, but the Board have no power to make any order as to ordinary accommodation crossings.