§ MR. TANKERVILLE CHAMBERLAYNE (Southampton)To ask the Postmaster-General whether he is aware that the site selected for a new post office at Southampton is within 12 feet of railway lines, over which trains are running at all hours of the day and night; and, seeing that in order to reach it it will be necessary to cross these lines, and, in the opinion of the County Borough Council, who are the local authority, and the Southampton Harbour Board, who are the owners of the railways, such an arrangement will be fraught with danger and inconvenience to the public, will he state what steps he proposes to take.
(Answered by Mr. Austen Chamberlain.) The new head telegraph office at Southampton, to which is attached a branch post office, is being built, together with a new Custom House, on a site on the south side of Canute Road, acquired for the purpose under the powers of the Post Office Sites Acts of 1897 and 1900, with the assistance of the Corporation. I am informed that that side of the road is already used for foot traffic, and the fact that trains are allowed to pass along the road, which is a main road of the town, seems to show that not much danger is attributed to their presence.