§ Sir A. COOPER RAWSONasked the Minister of Transport for what reason he has declined an offer of a solution of the traffic problem from an inventor residing in Brighton who is prepared to deposit £100, or more if necessary, to be forfeited, under given conditions, if the invention is not adopted; whether, in view of the claim that many accidents and thousands of pounds in street improvements can be saved by the adoption of such invention, he will confer with the Treasury with a view to entering into a contract with the applicant to investigate the process, particularly as the applicant has offered to defray the legal costs of such a contract, which would not necessarily 1269W impose any financial obligation on His Majesty's Government; and whether he will reconsider this decision?
§ Colonel ASHLEYThe inventor, to whom my hon. and gallant Friend refers, was informed in October last that I should be glad to receive any suggestions which would assist in solving the traffic problem in London, but he subsequently intimated that he was not prepared to submit his scheme unless I first entered into an agreement with him that he should be paid for his invention in the event of its being used. I am not prepared to enter into any such agreement. If the inventor referred to desires to protect his invention, he should take steps to have it patented, after which it would he open to him to submit it to me, when it would receive careful consideration.