§ Mr. REESasked the President of the Board of Trade whether his attention had been drawn to an apparatus for the automatic coupling of railway vehicles known as the Jepson A.B.C. coupler, an English invention, manufactured in this country; whether he was aware that this coupler had been successfully tried for some years on the Eastern Bengal and other Indian railways and on the Sudan Government railways, and that it has been adopted as the standard coupler on the Cyprus Railway, the British Honduras Railway, and the Great Northern Central Railway of Colombia; and whether he would take steps to have the suitability of this coupler investigated, with a view to its adoption on English railways?
§ Mr. CHURCHILLThe Board of Trade are fully acquainted with this coupling, and I am aware that it has been tried on more than one railway outside the United Kingdom. As regards the investigation of automatic couplings, I would refer my hon. Friend to my answer to his previous question.