69. Colonel NEWMANasked the Minister of Transport whether the proposals outlined in Command Paper No. 787 mean that the dividend of the shareholder will be equivalent to that paid at a pre-War date to be decided by Parliament; that the salaries of employés will be paid on a post-War scale irrespective of any return to a pre-War basis in the cost of living; and that the State shall have the control of any surplus revenue that should normally be the property of the shareholder; and, if so, will he say what are the chances of the owner of stock which at the determined pre-War date was earning an insignificant or no dividend getting a fair return on an investment which he genuinely made on the prospects of his property developing and becoming more remunerative in the future?
§ Sir E. GEDDESThe hon. and gallant Member raises points which it is not possible to discuss conveniently by way of question and answer. I would, however, remind him that the financial proposals outlined in Command Paper 787 relate, not to dividends, but to net revenue on some pre-War basis, and they indicate the ground on which the State may claim to share in surplus revenue. The wages of railway employees at present vary on a sliding scale in relation to the cost of living, and the general nature of the proposed machinery for dealing with questions of wages in future is also indicated in the White Paper.