§ 5. Mr. GILBERTasked the President of the Board of Trade whether he will publish as a White Paper the accounts of the railway companies, showing revenue and expenditure for each year since the Government assumed control, and also the amount of the yearly contribution, if any, of the Government to the respective companies?
Sir A. STANLEYUnder present arrangements the railways are worked as a single unit, and the receipts attributable to the traffic actually conveyed over any particular company's lines are not ascertained. The total revenue and expenditure of the railway companies is published in the Statistical Abstracts, and the payments made under the agreement with the railway companies are shown in the Appropriation Accounts of the Vote of Credit. These payments are made to the railway companies as a whole, and not to the individual companies.
§ Colonel W. THORNEIs the right hon. Gentleman aware that the public in general think that the increase in railway fares and season tickets is going directly into the pockets of the shareholders of the companies, and will he give the House an assurance that the railway companies are not making these huge profits, as supposed?
Sir A. STANLEYCertainly. I am not aware that the public are under any false impression, but I am quite willing to make it perfectly clear that no part of the revenue derived from the increase upon season tickets or upon ordinary tickets will go to the railway company. The whole of it goes to the State.
§ Mr. LOUGHWould my right hon. Friend have any objection to publishing a balance-sheet up to the end of the last financial year or some other convenient date, showing the profit on the working?
§ Mr. SPEAKERThe right hon. Gentleman must give notice of that question.