1875.| Railway Accidents. 1g 
(many of them the subject of Board of Trade enquiries) it is 
difficult to suppose that such is the case. 
‘‘ There can indeed be no doubt that methods of working 
and mechanical contrivances, the value of which has been 
thoroughly ascertained, have been too slowly introduced, 
and that there is great reason to believe that sufficient pro- 
vision has not been made for the safe working of the in- 
creased traffic by the enlargement or re-arrangement of 
stations and sidings, and the laying down of additional 
lines of rail. 
** But whatever may be thought of these and othes causes 
as contributing to the result, the present insecurity of rail- 
way travelling imposes upon the railway companies the 
grave responsibility of finding appropriate remedies for so 
great an evil.” 
On the subject of the frequent unpunctuality of trains it 
was remarked, ‘‘ The inconvenience, vexation, and loss 
caused to passengers by this breach of the conditions upon 
which the companies profess to carry them, constitute in 
themselves a serious subject of complaint. But the evil 
arising from unpunctuality does not end here. The service 
of the line is disarranged; the chances of accident are mul- 
tiplied ; the trains are forced, in order to make up for lost 
time, to travel at excessive speed through complicated 
stations, or under other circumstances where such travel- 
ling may be equally dangerous.” 
It is further remarked that the returns of accidents to 
railway servants show a lamentable number of casualties, 
often fatal, in proportion to the numbers employed; and, 
finally, a hope is expressed that the railway companies 
themselves ‘‘ will make every effort to meet the reasonable 
demands of the public and of Parliament.” 
The Board of Trade, as the branch of the Government 
which has to look after the interest of the public in respect 
to railway travelling, for which purpose it has been invested 
with special powers, could not with any degree of propriety 
have passed over, without some special notice, the alarming 
increase in the number of railway accidents recorded in 
1872, which had increased nearly 44 per cent over 1871, 88 
per cent over 1870, and 196 per cent over 1869. It is not 
proposed to consider, separately, the replies to this circular 
which were sent to the Board of Trade, as the remarks 
which they contained with reference to the principal causes 
of accident prevailing on railways, will be noticed further 
on under the different headings to which they respectively 
belong. 
