44. Mr. HAMILTONasked the President of the Board of Trade how many fatal accidents occurred, during the last five years for which particulars are available, owing to passengers falling out of trains; how ninny minor accidents were due to the same cause; and how many of these accidents would have been avoided if all the doors had been locked by some automatic device?
§ Mr. BURNSThe number of passengers killed and injured through falling from trains in the United Kingdom in the years 1909 to 1913 was 126 and 237 respectively, an average of 25 and 47 respectively per annum. I cannot say how many of these accidents would have been avoided if an automatic device for locking the doors had been in use, or, on the other hand, how many additional deaths or injuries might have been caused by the adoption of such a device.
61. Mr. HAMILTONasked whether the inventions and plans submitted by Mr. John Wilson, of Bakewell, Derby, have been fully considered by the Board of Trade; and whether the question of the 31 automatic locking of railway carriage doors to which his inventions refer is being still considered by the Board?
§ Mr. BURNSThis gentleman's invention has been examined by the inspecting officers of railways. On the general question I can add nothing to the reply I gave to a question asked by the hon. Member for the Wilton Division on the 10th March.