§ Order for Second reading read.
§ (9.50.) MR. CLAUDE HAYsaid he had on the Paper a Motion of a similar character to that which he had moved in respect of the previous Bill. The present Bill was to construct a line which was authorised in 1893, and was another of the derelicts of Mr. Yerkes, in respect of which no less than six Acts of Parliament had been passed, but nothing had been done towards constructing the railway. Therefore he felt he had some justification in saying that Parliament should ponder before giving a Second Reading to the Bill. Surely, sufficient time had elapsed since 1893 to enable the persons who had obtained the powers to construct the railway. Last year there was a Bill to extend the route to Victoria. Such an extension to Victoria would add enormously to the advantage of this line, and that that valuable extension should have been cut off was another illustration of the disadvantage of allowing any steam railway to have control of any of these tube railways. He believed the line was proposed, not with any view of constructing it, but in order to occupy the route, and thus prevent others from constructing a tube to the advantage of London as a whole.