§ Sir A. BUTTasked the Minister of Transport whether his attention has been drawn to the serious breakdown on the electric railway between Balham and Victoria on the 1st April; whether he proposes to hold inquiries into such 2053W accidents; whether he has taken steps to obtain an authoritative estimate from experts of the comparative merits of the live-wire and live-rail systems of electrification; and why the live-wire system has lately been extended in disregard of the fact that the live-rail is the standard system of electrification for railways in the London area?
§ Colonel ASHLEYWith regard to the first part of this question, failures of motive power, or temporary dislocations of service, which do not cause, and are not likely to cause, personal injury, are not within my powers of inquiry. As regards the second part, my hon. Friend will see from the Interim. Report of the Electrification of Railways Advisory Committee, which fully investigated the system of electrification for this country in 1920, that the extension of the overhead conductor system on the Brighton Section of the Southern Railway is in accordance with the views of that Committee. I am sending my hon. Friend a copy of this Report.