12 Railway Accidents. [January, 
not then be proceeded with. They recommended, however, 
that the Board of Trade should call for such information as 
might enable the inspe¢tors, in their annual reports, to 
state specially the progress made in their adoption on all 
passenger lines, after which, it was considered, Parliament 
would be in a condition to decide whether or not it would 
be right to require the further and more prompt extension 
of these systems on those lines where they might still be 
necessary. 
Another Commission is at the present time occupied in 
considering how railway accidents may best be prevented, 
and what legislation, if any, is desirable on the subje¢t in 
the interests of the public at large. It will be observed 
that, hitherto, the action of Parliament has been rather to 
recommend and advise than to pass coercive measures to 
compel railway companies to adopt improved means for the 
protection of their passengers. At the same time, additional 
powers have been vested in the Board of Trade from time 
to time for the more efficient inspection of lines open to the 
public, and there can be no doubt that the duties devolving 
upon that branch of the public service have hitherto been 
conducted satisfactorily in the general interests, but it is 
hardly to be supposed that its a¢tion should meet with uni- 
versal approbation, or, indeed, that it should be always free 
from blame. It is very obvious that the officers of the 
Board of Trade are not in good odour with the present 
President of the Institution of Civil Engineers; and, as his 
observations may probably be taken to represent the feelings 
of railway officials generally towards them, we quote the 
following remarks made by him in his inaugural address on 
the 13th of January last :— 
‘* There is also a ‘ popular delusion’ which I think ought 
to be corrected. The public believe that the various recom- 
mendations made to the railway companies from time to 
time by the officers of the Board of Trade, such as the 
block system, interlocking of points, &c., are really inven- 
tions of those officers, whereas the fact is that not one of 
these systems or inventions, or any new idea in connection 
with the workings of railways, has ever really been suggested 
by them. 
‘“‘’The railway companies also are at a great disadvantage 
with the public in respect to the reports which are from 
time to time made by the Government inspecting officers— 
their dictum is never questioned by the public; and although 
railway officers of great experience constantly differ from 
those officials in the conclusions at which they arrive, the 
