§ MR. LYELL (Dorsetshire, E.)I beg to ask the President of the Local Government Board whether his attention has been called by local authorities to the damage done to roads by traction engines and heavy locomotives, especially after the break up of a frost; and whether he will consider the advisability of giving, by legislation or otherwise, to local authorities power to regulate and at certain seasons to prohibit the use of traction engines.
§ MR. JOHN BURNSI have received some communications on this subject, and one has recently reached me from the Dorset County Council. The question is one of some difficulty. It was considered by the Departmental Committee on Highway Authorities and Administration. That Committee did not see their way to adopt a proposal that officials of the highway authority should be empowered to stop road-engines from using the roads on occasions when rendered unsuitable for passage by the state of the weather, and could only suggest that there should be a power for recovering from the owners of the engines damages for injury caused by their traversing the roads in unsuitable 779 weather. I cannot promise to undertake legislation on the subject, but I shall be happy to consider any suggestions that may be laid before me for meeting the difficulty.