§ SIR EDWARD SASSOON (Hythe)asked the Home Secretary whether he would consider the expediency, in the interests of public safety, which recent events had proved to be endangered, of suspending all existing licences of motor omnibuses —pending the establishment of a more rigid and effectual system of inspection than that which now obtained of the brakes and other safety appliances of such vehicles, and whether he would see that only such drivers as understood the mechanism of motors should be employed.
§ MR. GLADSTONEThis is a Question which requires longer notice than I have 1340 received. I am unable to accept the hon. Gentleman's main suggestion. I may say there is no evidence to prove that the recent accidents referred to are attributable to defective or unsuitable brakes or steering gear. The working condition of the brakes of all licensed: vehicles is carefully and frequently inquired into by officers of the licensing authority. Any defect noticed would lead to the vehicle being forbidden to ply in the streets until it had been remedied. The question, which is both important and urgent, is one which falls within the province of the Royal Commission on Motor Cars, and the Select Committee on Cabs and Omnibuses.
§ SIR EDWARD SASSOONIs the right hon. Gentleman aware that in the month, of June last there were 390 motor-'bus accidents in London?
§ MR. GLADSTONEYes, I gave the figures myself.
§ MR. WILLIAM REDMONDWill the right hon. Gentleman bear in mind I the fact that everybody considers these I 'buses a nuisance and a public danger— and that the town authorities of Kensington recently passed a resolution in which they declared that the value of property in their district had gone down because of the nuisance caused by these 'buses, and that children cannot go out into the read for a moment without danger?
§ MR. GLADSTONEI am aware, and I think every hon. Member is aware, that the motor-'buses now plying on the public streets are defective in many ways, and in certain ways are distinctly a nuisance, but these points will be most carefully examined into. The whole question is a, new one, and it is impossible to act in a hurry. I can assure the hon. Member that the matter is receiving the most; serious attention, not only in connection I with the inquiries I have already referred to, but on the part of both the police authorities and my right hon. friend the President of the Local Government Board.
§ MR. WILLIAM REDMONDDo any members of the Cabinet or supporters of the Cabinet ever use those 'buses?
§ [No Answer was returned.]