GREAT WESTERN RAILWAY (ADDITIONAL POWERS) BILL. (Hansard, 30 June 1896)

MR. HERBERT ROBERTS () Denbighshire, W.

moved:— That it be an Instruction to the Committee to whom this Bill is referred to receive evidence as to the expediency of modifying the tolls, rates and charges which the Great Western Railway Company would be authorised by the Railway Rates and Charges (No. 1) [Abbotsbury Railway, etc.] Order Confirmation Act, 1892, to demand and take for the conveyance of passengers, parcels, and merchandise over the lines of the Vale of Llangollen, Llangollen and Corwen, and Corwen and Bala Railway Companies, and, if they think fit, to insert provisions in the Bill to effect the reduction of such tolls, rates, and charges. That all Petitions against the Bill presented Three clear days before the meeting of the Committee be referred to the Committee; that the Petitioners praying to be heard by themselves, their Counsel, or Agents, be heard against the Bill. That the Committee have power to send for persons, papers, and records. The hon. Member explained that he had received from the promoters of the Bill an assurance of such a nature as would not make it necessary for him to press the Motion which he had placed on the Paper. But he wished to state to the House what the object of the Instruction was. It was intended to enable people who were interested in the throe branch Welsh lines—known as the Vale of Llangollen, Llangollen and Corwen, and Corwen and Bala—to appear and give evidence before the Committee upstairs as to the desirability of modifying the scale of rates now charged by the Great Western Company, who were working the lines. The Bill to which the Instruction referred empowered the Great Western Railway Company to buy up these lines and to regard them as part of their own undertakings. It was necessary, therefore, that facilities should be given for submitting local evidence to the Committee to which the Bill had been referred; and for taking such a course he might point out that there had been a precedent during the present Session in regard to the London 378 and North Western Railway Bill. The three lines in question were now governed, in regard to rates and charges, by the Rates and Charges No. 1 (Abbotsbury Railway) Order Confirmation Act, 1892; and by Scale IV. in Class A the charges were 1.50d. per ton per mile for the first 20 miles; and in Class B, 1.60d. per ton per mile for the first 20 miles. Scale IV. in that Act was identical with Scale II. in the General Confirmation of Charges Act of the Great Western Railway Company of 1891. The object of the Instruction was to enable everybody to he brought before the Committee and to induce the promoters of the Bill to insert a clause substituting Scale 1 for Scale 2. That would make a material difference in the rates to be charged. Under Scale 2 the rates were 1.50 and 1.60 for the two classes of goods. According to Scale 2 the rates were 1.95 and 1.25 respectively for the first 20 miles. All the lines in question did not, he was informed, exceed 28 miles in length, and the railway company could, therefore, practically charge the maximum rates upon them. Then, again, the lines in the immediate neighbourhood worked by the Great Western Company upon similar conditions and under similar circumstances, were under Scale 1 and not Scale 2, and he would further point out that the Great Western Railway Company had now a Bill before the House empowering them to make two railways in Denbighshire, and the clause in that Bill which governed the rates was Scale 1 and not Scale 2. These high rates constituted a practical hardship to the people who used these lines. The coal rate, for instance, from Ruabon to Corwen, a distance of 19 miles, was 2s. 9d., but if they went in another direction, not on this line but a similar distance, namely, from Ruabon to Baschurch, the rate was only 1s. 5d. There was no doubt as to the opinion of the locality upon this point, while the written opinion of the Board of Trade was also strongly in their favour. In their Report they say:— The Board of Trade are of opinion that the absorption of these railways by the Great Western Railway Company would remove any justification for the higher rate authorised by Scale 2 under the Act of 1892 in the ease of the Vale of Llangollen, Llangollen and Corwen, and Corwen and Bala Railway Companies. The Board suggest that the consideration of the 379 Committee and a clause should be inserted to provide that for all purposes of tolls, rates, and charges the amalgamated railways shall be taken to form part of the section of the Great Western Railway Company with which they are specially connected. That meant that these lines should be governed not by Scale 2 but by Scale 1. He hoped the promoters of the Bill would see their way to acknowledge the justice of the claim, and that the President of the Board of Trade would give him an assurance that the Report of his Department would be presented to the Committee and supported by a responsible official.

§ THE PRESIDENT OF THE BOARD OF TRADE (Mr. C. T. RITCHIE,) Croydon

said he thought he was prepared to agree with the hon. Gentleman in regard to the material facts of this matter. The lines referred to in the Instruction were a group of lines which had been hitherto worked as independent railways, and as such should be entitled to charge on a higher scale—namely, Scale No. 2 for the carriage of merchandise. It was now proposed by the Bill that these railways should become an integral part of the Great Western Railway Company, and that the higher scale of tolls should continue to be charged. In the opinion of the Board of Trade, that was not just or expedient. They believed that, having become a portion of the Great Western, that the charge granted to the lines as in Department undertakings should cease, and that they should come under the general charges of the Great Western Railway Company. He understood, from what the hon. Gentleman had said, that his anxiety was that the Committee should have this question fully before them. He considered there would be an inconvenience in the passing of this Instruction, but probably the hon. Gentleman would be quite satisfied with his assurance that the Board of Trade would be prepared to support the Report the hon. Gentleman had quoted by any evidence which the Committee might desire to have before it. The Committee would undoubtedly take into consideration the Report of the Board of Trade, and would unquestionably, before disregarding it, communicate with that Department, with the view of obtaining such evidence as they thought would support the allegations in the Report. If that were 380 done the Department would be prepared to place such evidence before the Committee.