HC Deb 28 February 1901 vol 90 cc49-50
*MR. THOMAS SHAW (Hawick Burghs)

I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether his attention, has been called to the case of Brodie against the North British Railway Company, in which the Second Division of the Court of Session in Scotland recently decided that a railway servant who had been injured while engaged in the company's work as a goods guard was not entitled to compensation under the Workmen's Compensation Act, because the place at which the accident occurred was upon a private siding connected with the main line of rails; whether he is aware that the existing state of the law as declared by this decision has been the subject of much discussion and dissatisfaction among the railway servants of the United Kingdom; and whether it is the intention of His Majesty's Government to bring in any measure to amend the Workmen's Compensation Act so as to include within its scope accidents of the kind before mentioned, to which such a large class of the working men of this country are subject in the regular course of their duties.

*MR. RITCHIE

I have seen a report of the case referred to, but I have not received any representations on the subject from railway servants. No doubt the point will have to be considered when an amending Bill is taken in hand, but I am not at present in a position to promise legislation on the subject.

AN HON. MEMBER

Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that half the railway servants of the United Kingdom are deprived of the beneficent provisions of this Act?

[No answer was returned.]