§ MR. MACKARNESSI beg to ask the President of the Board of Trade whether he is aware that the Great 1642 Western Railway station at Newbury is, on the down side, in some places not more than six feet wide and nowhere more than fourteen feet wide, and that express trains pass through it every day at from sixty to sixty-seven miles an hour; whether the station was built upwards of fifty years ago and is quite unfitted for the traffic and the trains which now pass through it, and that its continuance in its present condition is attended with danger to life and property; and whether he will inquire why the decision come to by the board of the company more than two years ago to build a new station has never been carried out.
§ THE PRESIDENT OF THE BOARD OF TRADE (Mr. Lloyd-George,) Carnarvon BoroughsThe Board of Trade have again been in communication with the Railway Company in this matter, and have received a reply as follows:—
Great Western Railway,General Manager's Office,93348W. "Paddington Station,London, W.28th May, 1907.SIR,I am in receipt of your letter of to-day's date covering copy of a Notice of a further Question which Mr. Mackarness proposes to ask the President of the Board of Trade in the House of Commons to-morrow (Wednesday) relative to the Newbury station, and in reply do not find it possible to make any material addition to what was contained in my communication of 22nd March.The major portion of the platform is, as stated, approximately fourteen feet wide, but there is one spot—opposite the steps of the footbridge—where the space is necessarily reduced to about six feet. The Company is not, however, aware of any justification for the statement that the existing arrangements are 'attended with danger to life and property.'As was stated in my letter of 22nd March, the re-construction of the station will be taken in hand as soon as the Company is in possession of the necessary land.I am, etc.,(Sd.) JAMES C. INGLISThe Assistant Secretary,(Railway Department)"Board of Trade."