§ MR. J. SPENCER BALFOUR (Burnley)I beg to ask the President of the Board of Trade whether the Board intend to grant a third Provisional Order under the Electric Lighting Acts in any district in London where there are already two Electric Lighting Companies empowered by Provisional Orders to supply electricity; and whether, if so, he will explain why it is now intended to depart from the principle laid down by the Board of Trade, after the Westminster Inquiry of 1889, that there should be only two companies, each for a different system, authorised by Provisional Orders, in one district, and also from the policy of the Board of Trade as stated by the President on the 12th May last?
§ SIR M. HICKS BEACHIt is not intended to grant a third Provisional Order under the Electric Lighting Acts in any urban district where there are already two Electric Lighting Companies empowered by Provisional Orders to supply electricity, unless there are strong reasons to suppose that one of such Electric Lighting Companies will be unable to exercise its powers within a reasonable time. Where, however, this is the case, I do not think that it is desirable that the inhabitants of a district should be entirely debarred from the advantages of competition.