THE RAILWAY REGULATION BILL. (Hansard, 28 March 1899)

§ * MR. MADDISON (Sheffield, Brightside)

I wish to got a little more information from the President of the Board of Trade upon the subject to which the honourable Gentleman, the Member for Stoke-on-Trent, has just referred. I think that nothing has occurred during this Session more notable, and I would also say more deplorable, than the action of the President of the Board of Trade on this question of Railway Regulation Bill. The President of the Board of Trade, who, I believe, has been sincere, and who is sincere in his desire to bring about what we all believe would effect a great saving of life and limb amongst railway men, has confessed that he is unable to carry through this Bill, which is in a most deplorable condition at the present moment. The honourable Member for Peterborough is more easily satisfied than I am upon this Question. He took it for granted that something had happened to prevent its going through. I have not been able to gather from the President of the Board of Trade that such was the case. Look at the history of this Bill. The right honourable Gentleman, the President of the Board of Trade, kindly granted me a return of the accidents which had taken place, and that return must convince all honourable Members that the accidents in connection with shunting are extremely serious. In reply to other Questions answers were given that the right honourable Gentleman had instructed one of his officials, the head of the Railway Department, to go over to America and to inquire into certain matters there, which had to be inquired into, in connection with the question of automatic couplings. Mr. Hopwood went to America; he has a large experience of English railways, and he was well fitted to inquire into this Question. He came back, and he issued a Report. That Report is in the hands of honourable Members; they know what he has reported, and they are able to get a fair idea of what takes place in the United States. Then we have an Amendment to the Address, which I had the honour of moving, upon which the right honourable Gentleman, the President of the Board of Trade, made a speech; and though he did not agree with me on the one hand, as to the advisability of unlocking the powers of the Board of Trade, on the other hand he clearly stated that the question of 659 automatic couplings should be dealt with by legislation. Then we had another speech from the right honourable Gentleman, in which he told the House that he thought that this automatic couplings suggestion was a reasonable one, and if carried out, was one which would effect a great saving in life and limb; and then we had the Bill of the right honourable Gentleman, a Bill which is moderation itself. Some foolish people are going about the country saying that the right honourable Gentleman has bowed down to the Amalgamated Railway Servants and to labour agitators generally. All I can say is that if ever the honourable Gentleman gets into the hands of that society he will have to bring forward a very different Bill. This Bill is simply milk and water from the point of view of extreme railway men.

§ * MR. MADDISON

It is not my intention to discuss the details of the Bill, Sir, I was merely using it as an argument to show the opinion that has been urged against the right honourable Gentleman has not been maintained. Shortly after the Bill was introduced there was a deputation of private railway wagon owners which waited on the right honourable Gentleman. That deputation was a remarkable one. One gentleman in discussing the question of automatic couplings said that the Bill had cost him many anxious nights, and the result was that he regarded this Bill as unnecessary. Another gentleman said he was between "the Devil and the deep sea." That deputation was composed mostly of people who are interested in wagons, people who would be affected by this Bill, and after the deputation the right honourable Gentleman throws over 300,000 railway men, including those whom the honourable Gentleman the Member for Stoke-upon-Trent represents, who he thinks are opposed to this Bill; we can allow him to take care of the few that he represents. The reply of the right honourable Gentleman filled some of us with something amounting to consternation because at the end of his reply he 660 told us he would drop the couplings part of the Bill. But when you have once thrown one portion to the wolves they want all the lot, and immediately the right honourable Gentleman had replied and said that he would practically give up automatic couplings and refer the other portions of the Bill to a Committee, one of the prominent members of the deputation wanted him to go further. So we go along the down grade, and if the honourable Member for Peterborough is right we have lost automatic couplings for this Session at least. What I want to know from the Board of Trade is whether we have not only lost automatic couplings, but breaks as well? I do not wish to detain the House any longer upon this question, I merely wish to know, is the present Bill or any portion of it to be proceeded with? If not, what is to be the nature of the tribunal of inquiry which is to go into this matter? Is it to be a Royal Commission, which, the House should remember, has been demanded by the private wagon owners and railway companies from the first? Will the right honourable Gentleman say that the reference is to cover a wider field than the three items contained in this Bill? But the right honourable Gentleman must remember that we have been moderate in our demands; we have been content to take reform by instalments, and if the question of the safety of the railway men is to be dealt with the right honourable Gentleman knows very well he will give some very hard work to any Royal Commission that is appointed. I hope that he will see his way to proceed with this measure.