HOW TO REDUCE THE NUMBER OF RAILWAY ACCIDENTS.
ere TEE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."] SIR,—The Passenger Duty presses heavily (viz .,£800,000 a year) especially on the passenger lines. Its total abolition seems as far off as ever. I would suggest, therefore, that the Companies should petition the Board of Trade to recommend some remis- sion on those lines that are free from accidents (whereby passengers are killed or injured), for certain periods, according to their size, or passenger mileage or train mileage, as some return for adopting its and other costly recommendations, to ensure extra safety. We see what can be done in this way ; only one death on the London and North-Western in the last three• and a-half years.
Parliament, moreover, has granted the Companies enormous powers and privileges. The public has a right, therefore, to- claim from Parliament that some effective means should be devised for its protection ; and this conditional remission would be a standing check on accidents, more effective than compensa- tion charges, which average only one-third • of the passenger duty.
Such a measure would be gladly received by the public, and the yearly roll of killed and injured would in two or three years be reduced by half.—I am, Sir, &c,,
Laleham, Coventry Park, September 161h. R. VARLEV,
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