SUPPLY COMMITTEE. (Hansard, 13 April 1905)

§ MR. CHANNING (Northamptonshire, E.)

rose to call attention to Acts relating to the safe working of, and the prevention of accidents upon, railways, and to the hours of labour of railway servants; and to move a Resolution. He said he would not apologise for raising the question in this form. During the present session a large number of hon. Members who desired to bring forward Resolutions bad been interested in the ballot for places, and although be had been desirous of bringing this question before the House on one of the evenings allotted to private Members he had not been successful in the ballot. In his opinion matters affecting the life and limb of railway servants, 184 and especially the excessive hours which2 in many instances, servants still worked, were of very much greater importance than many of the questions which had lately been discussed in the House. If those interested in this question were to wait until the Board of Trade Vote came before the House, this question would be only one of the many raised in that discussion, and the result would be, as frequent experience had shown, that a haphazard, or rather, he would say, a restricted allusion would be made to it in the reply from the representative of the Department. That would be less satisfactory than a statement made on an occasion of this kind.

Parliament had provided the Board of Trade with a great number of instruments which it had used very imperfectly and inadequately to carry out the great objects which were contemplated by legislation in connection with the safe working of railways, and the prevention of accidents to those employed. Great powers were vested in the Board of Trade in virtue of many Acts passed prior to those dealing particularly with this question, but, of course, the main Acts by which they were empowered to deal with the matters involved were those of 1889 and 1893 in relation to working hours on railways, 185 and also the Accidents Act of 1900. What he had to say upon the whole of that legislation was that it seemed to him that since the right hon. Gentleman the Member for Croydon left the Board of Trade there had been laxer administration and a less sympathetic attitude, and an absence of insight and initiative in regard to the protection of railway servants and the prevention of the evils arising from the excessive hours worked This condition of affairs was extremely unsatisfactory. From a comparison of the figures for recent years he found that there had been some slight improvements, but what he had to complain of was that the main objects of the Act of 1900 still remained absolutely unfulfilled. His information might not be up to date, but he was informed that no official action had been taken with regard to the question of couplings, whether automatic or non-automatic.

From the Board of Trade Returns as to loss of life and injuries resulting from operations in coupling and uncoupling of wagons, and the marshalling of trains, he found that there had been practically no diminution whatsoever. It appeared to him that the form of the last Return of accidents had been altered in a way which made it less satisfactory than before. There was a less clear light thrown on the causes of the accidents, but be far as he could make out the figures did not show that the accidents differed materially from those which occurred before the Act of 1900 was passed. He would concentrate his attention on this particular point, and he would not quarrel with the Board of Trade in regard to matters where they had rendered valuable service under the Act. Sir Francis Hopwood was one of 186 the greatest workers in the cause of the railway servants, and he had had a great deal to do with that admirable official in 3onnection with the inquiries conducted in the United States as to the methods of coupling and uncoupling adopted in that country. The Report which Sir Francis Hopwood had made to the Board of Trade on the subject was of great importance. It showed the remark fact that since the Department which was responsible there for the safe working and administration of the railways really took the matter in hand with energy and determination immense results had been obtained in the protection of life and limb. In 1893 the number killed in America from this class of accidents was 2,727, and in four years after the initiation of legislation on the subject the mortality had been reduced to l693 a percentage of seventy or eighty. The number of injuries had been reduced in like proportion. Every man who knew anything of the mechanical considerations involved in this problem knew that there were very great difficulties to be solved, but at the same time those who had studied the progress of invention in relation to this problem must feel that it was one which was not mechanically incapable of being solved. The Board of Trade ought to have thrown its energies into this question with the view to arriving at a solution of it, and it was no exaggeration to say that the Board deserved the censure of the House of Commons for not having taken more active steps in that direction, and for not having approached nearer to a solution.

The reports of the Board of Trade inspectors previous to 1888 showed that the loss of life and injury to railway passengers were immensely 187 greater than they had since been, The secret of the change was to be found in the passing of the Act of 1889, when the right hon. Gentleman the Member for Bristol was President of the Board of Trade. By that Act the Board of Trade was enabled to make the automatic brake system and the interlocking of signals and point compulsory throughout the railways of this country. This afforded a vivid illustration of the good results which could be obtained from resolute and well-considered action on definite lines. Perhaps the Secretary of the Board of Trade would be able to throw some light upon what appeared to be the inaction of the Board, but it seemed to him that a more energetic policy should be adopted by the Department.