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At The Council Chamber, Whitehall

Document Summary

The transcription of a presentation by Joseph Chamberlain, President of the Board of Trade, to the House of Commons, on the morning of the 15 July 1880, defending the role of the Board of Trade in passing the Tay Bridge as fit for traffic.

This document was published on 15th July 1880 by an unknown publisher.

It was written by Right Hon. Joseph Chamberlain (MP).

This item is linked to the Accident at Tay Bridge on 28th December 1879

The original document format was Scanned Images, and comprised 2 pages.

This document was kindly sourced from Colin Holmes and is in our Speeches collection. It was added to the Archive on 8th February 2006.

Copyright Information

This document is © Unknown.

"The Board of Trade are unwilling to conclude these minutes without some general remarks on the policy of the legislation to which they have adverted. It may appear to some that the present state of things is one which cannot be logically defended, and that the Board of Trade ought to be entrusted with further powers. The experience of a great number of years has, however, shown that the present system does not work unsatisfactorily, and a little consideration will show that the public safety and convenience would not be promoted by such changes.

In the first place, if the Board of Trade were to be held responsible for the designs of railway structures and for the supervision of their execution, they must employ a staff as experienced, as numerous, and probably as highly remunerated as the civil engineers, by and under whom these structures are designed and executed. It is scarcely necessary to observe on the impracticability of such a step."