§ MR. LYELL (Dorsetshire, E.)To ask the President of the Local Government Board whether, in view of the damage done to roads by the corrugated wheels of traction engines, and the consequent charges on the rates, he can hold out any prospect of legislation forbidding the use of such grooved and corrugated wheels.
1051 (Answered by Mr. Walter Long.) There is an express provision in Section 28 of the Highways and Locomotives (Amendment) Act, 1878, allowing the driving wheels of a locomotive to be shod with diagonal cross bars. Under the Locomotives on Highways Act, 1896, I have varied the requirements of this section so as to allow of the use of wheels which are shod with wooden blocks, and I am now dealing with an application to authorise the use of what is known as the "pedrail," but I am afraid that I could not hold out any prospect of legislation forbidding the use of a form of wheel which is specifically contemplated by the Act of 1878, and which has been employed ever since the passing of that Act.