HC Deb 10 May 1900 vol 82 cc1254-5
CAPTAIN SINCLAIR (Forfar)

I beg to ask the Lord Advocate whether his attention has been called to the Tay Port and Broughty Ferry ferry case, tried before Sheriff Campbell Smith at Dundee on 4th May; and as the duty of keeping the ferry open at all times for the convenience of the public lies by statute with the North British Railway Company, whether proper representation being made to him will enable him to take steps, and whether upon such representation being made to him he will take the necessary steps, to compel the company to carry out their legal obligation in this regard.

* THE LORD ADVOCATE (Mr. A. GRAHAM MURRAY, Buteshire)

My attention has been called to the case mentioned by the hon. Member, in which the Procurator Fiscal seems quite properly to have interfered in the interests of public safety. With regard, however, to the question of whether the North British Railway Com- pany are properly discharging their obligations as grantees of the ferry, I have no title to interfere. The right and duty of enforcing the obligations which lie on the grantees of a ferry at common Jaw formerly belonged to the Justices of the Peace and the Commissioners of Supply, which latter body are, since the Local Government Act, in this matter represented by the County Council. I express no opinion as to whether their title would or would not be effectual in the case of the statutory obligation in question.