§ CAPTAIN NORTONI beg to ask the President of the Board of Trade whether he has seen a document which has been circulated amongst Members 1288 setting forth a public grievance in connection with the London, Tilbury, and Southend Railway Company, whereby it appears that this Company, while paying a dividend of over 7 per cent., have failed to provide for the public convenience in many respects, and notably in the matter of workmen's trains, the third class passengers by morning and evening trains being usually packed to the number of fifteen and upwards in compartments authorised to hold ten only; whether he will inquire into this case with a view to obliging the Company to carry out the duties imposed upon it.
§ MAJOR RASCH (Essex, Chelmsford)Has the attention of the Department been called to the dirty carriages and the insanitary condition of the stations on this line?
§ MR. GERALD BALFOURI have seen the document to which the hon. Member refers, and if the statements contained therein are well founded I am bound to say they disclose a very unsatisfactory state of affairs. So far as concerns the complaint that the Railway Company does not make adequate provision of workmen's trains, I may say that a deputation was recently received at the Board of Trade upon this subject, when the provisions of the Cheap Trains Act, 1883, were explained. It is understood that a memorial specifying the grounds of complaint will be addressed to the Board, and when this is done it shall receive full consideration and an inquiry will, if necessary, be ordered in pursuance of the Act. The Board of Trade have no statutory power to order an inquiry into the other matters referred to.