A correspondent of the Times describes a scene at Grimsby
caused by the neglect of a railway company to provide means to carry off a crowd collected by excursion trains. The return trains were expected to leave about 7 p.m., but the crowd was enormous, the trains left at intervals of an hour, the poor people were hud- dled together unable to move, and afraid to sit down lest they should be crushed, and so they remained in many instances all night, women having been seen at eight o'clock next day sitting on Grimsby Pier in a pitiable state of exhaustion. Scarcely an " excursion" leaves London of which a tale almost similar might not be told, and at the Great Eastern terminus, where the station really will not hold a great crowd, there will one day be a cata- strophe. Cheap third-class carriages added to every train, except the express, throughout the summer would prevent all this crowd- ing and pay the Companies well, but till the State appoints the managers the experiment will never be made. As the Irish Directors say, the Companies want some dividend now, not a great one five years hence.
Previous page
