§ MR. M'FADDENI beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether he is aware that the 1320 Lough Swilly Railway Company which works the new Letterkenny to Burton-port Extension Railway, County Donegal, failed to provide sufficient accommodation for passengers on the line on the occasion of the hiring fair at Letterkenny on 15th May last; and whether, in view of the overcrowding of compartments on that occasion, and of the fact that a number of passengers on the same occasion were put into goods waggons and cattle trucks and charged the same fares as persons in third class passenger carriages, and that the morning train to Letterkenny from Burtonport was an hour late in arriving, and the evening train was an hour-and-a-half late in leaving Letterkenny, and that a number of persons were unable to obtain travelling accommodation in the train at Letterkenny Station and at Old Town Station, the Board of Works, with whom the Lough Swilly Company entered into agreement for working the line, will see that the terms of the agreement are carried out and sufficient accommodation is provided for the travelling public.
§ MR. WYNDHAMI understand that some inconvenience was caused to passengers on this line on the date mentioned; but it is denied by the Company that passengers were placed in a cattle truck. It must not be forgotten, however, that the Letterkenny and Burtonport Railway was only opened for traffic in March last, and that the interval that has since elapsed has hardly been sufficient to enable the Company to estimate adequately the requirements of the line on the particular occasion in question. The Board of Works is in correspondence with the Company with a view to having such arrangements made as will obviate any recurrence of complaint, so far as possible.
§ MR. M'FADDENI beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether his attention has been called to the fact that the special morning train from Londonderry to Letterkenny, County Donegal, on the Letterkenny Railway, worked by the Lough Swilly Railway Company under agreement with the Board of Works, due to arrive at 10 o'clock did not arrive on the occasion of the hiring fair at Letterkenny on the 15th May last until 1321 12 o'clock; that the train due at Letterkenny at 1.40 p.m. on same occasion did not arrive until 3 o'clock, that the evening train for Londonderry due to leave Letterkenny at 6.50 did not leave till 8 o'clock, and that a number of passengers were unable to obtain accommodation; and, if so, whether, considering that the passengers, mostly farmers by these trains, at present pay a tax of 3½d. in the pound towards the paying off of interest on the mortgage held on the line by the Board of Works, the Board will see that the line is properly equipped and worked by the company.
§ MR. WYNDHAMThe 6.30 and 8.40 morning trains arrived late at Letterkenny owing to heavy traffic. The company deny that any passengers were left behind; but if names and addresses of persons who allege they were so inconvenienced are furnished further inquiry will be made.
§ MR. M'FADDENI beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether, in view of the agreement between the Board of Works and the Lough Swilly Railway Company for the working of the Letterkenny to Burtonport Extension Railway, County Donegal, and the provision relating to the use of the rolling stock of this line on the Letterkenny or Londonderry and Lough Swilly lines worked by the same Company, he will state whether on the 15th May last the use by the Company of part of this rolling stock on the Letterkenny line was the occasion of the insufficient accommodation afforded to passengers on the Burtonport line and the consequent complaints; and, if so, will he say what action he proposes to take.
§ MR. WYNDHAMThe Company explain that this statement is incorrect, and that the carriages in use on the Burtonport line on the date in question were one in excess of the normal equipment of the line.