HC Deb 08 May 1923 vol 163 cc2170-1
Mr. REMER

I beg to move That leave be given to brim in a Bill to amend the Railways Act, 1921. I think there is a general concensus of opinion throughout the country that the present situation with regard to the railways is very unsatisfactory. Railway rates and fares are too high, and, when the Minister of Transport is asked questions with regard to them in this House, his reply is that the complainers have the right to apply to the Railway Rates Tribunal to have the position considered. It is quite easy for an organisation like the Federation of British Industries and other organisations of that kind to afford the expense of applying of the Railway Rates Tribunal, but to the small trader and particularly to the travelling public the expenditure of making an application to that Tribunal is so high that it is almost impossible for such an application to be made. This House under the Railways Act has given the railway companies a great monopoly, and I believe it is a fact that according to their last balance-sheets, which were published at the end of last year, the reserves of one railway company were as much as the reserves of the whole of the railway companies in pre-War days. Therefore, I think the public should have full protection against these powerful combines.

I am told thousands of tons of potatoes in Lincolnshire were last year allowed to rot in the fields simply because of the high railway rates and because the carriage on the Dutch potatoes was less than the carriage on the Lincolnshire potatoes to the London market. That is a position which wants to be radically and quickly altered. The Bill which I am submitting to the House is a very simple measure. It amends the Railways Act in order to enable the Minister of Transport to make the same application that traders at present are empowered to make, if, in his opinion, the railway rates are too high. That is perfectly fair to the railway companies, and it pus the Minister of Transport in his proper place as the custodian of the public in face of this powerful combine.

Question put, and agreed to.

Bill ordered to be brought in by Mr. Remer, Major Sir Keith Fraser, Mr. Thorpe, Mr. Gerald Hurst, Dr. Watts, Major Paget, Mr. John Brown, Mr. Reynolds, Sir Sydney Russell-Wells, Lieut.-Commander Astbury, Sir William Lane Mitchell, and Colonel Woodcock.

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  1. RAILWAYS ACT (1921) AMENDMENT BILL, 27 words