§ MR. MADDISON (Sheffield, Brightside)I beg to ask the President of the Board of Trade whether he is aware that since the enactment by the United States of America of a law compelling the use of automatic couplings on the railways of that country, the number of accidents to employees engaged in coupling and uncoupling vehicles has decreased 45 per cent. in killed, and 28 per cent. in injured; whether he is also aware that during the same period in the United Kingdom the accidents occurring 387 in coupling and uncoupling, as shown by the Board of Trade Returns, have increased to a serious extent; and whether he will grant a Return of all accidents occurring during shunting operations on the railways of the United Kingdom during the last 10 complete years, showing in separate columns the number of killed and injured, and distinguishing all the accidents caused by coupling and uncoupling from those due to other causes, and a like Return of the same class of accidents on the railways in the United States of America for the same period, giving the date when the new law as to automatic couplings came into force?
§ THE PRESIDENT OF THE BOARD OF TRADEIf the honourable Member will put down a Motion for a return asking for the figures referred to in the first part of paragraph 3 of his Question, I shall be happy to supply them, but I cannot give the American statistics, and the honourable Member must not assume that I admit the accuracy of the statements contained in paragraphs 1 and 2. I may say, in addition, that the matters referred to in the Question, and one or two others connected with railway administration in the United States, seem to me of so much interest that I am considering whether it may not be desirable to make some arrangements for a special investigation of them during the autumn Recess.