THE MARQUESS OF WESTMEATHinquired of Her Majesty's Government, in consequence of what had transpired by the recent Verdict of a Coroner's Inquest respecting the Death of an Individual employed upon the North Staffordshire Railway in conducting a Locomotive Engine, and which the Jury found was occasioned by undue Speed, whether it may be in their Contemplation to propose any Amendment of the Law to control the Speed of Railway Engines in future within reasonable Limits?
§ EARL GRANVILLEsaid, that it was not the intention of Her Majesty's Government to introduce any such measure as that referred to by the noble Marquess, and they had been strengthened in that determination by the fact that the Com- 696 mittee on Railway Accidents had declined to recommend any direct interference by Parliament as to the extreme speed at which railway trains should be permitted to travel.
VISCOUNT DUNGANNONsaid, that railway accidents often occurred through reckless driving, with a view to make up for lost time. The matter, however, as one with which, under all the circumstances, it was not very easy to deal by legislation.
§ House adjourned at a quarter-past Seven o'clock, till To-morrow, half-past Ten o'clock.