17. Colonel NEWMANasked the President of the Board of Trade whether, as laid down by the Railway (Accounts and Returns) Act, the Minister of Transport would supply the management of the various railway systems with the necessary, data to enable them to furnish the stockholders with information as to the present and future prospects of their property?
§ The MINISTER of TRANSPORT (Sir. Eric Geddes)The data required by the Railway (Accounts and Returns) Act are prepared by the Railway Companies themselves, and require nothing of the Minister of Transport. In view of the arrangement between the Government and the railways, under which the net receipts of the year 1913 were guaranteed to the railway companies, the Board of Trade authorised the variation in the form of Statutory Accounts, to which the hon. Member presumably refers.