§ 39. Mr. SALTasked the Minister of Transport how many bridges have been 198 rebuilt in England and Wales in each of the years ended March, 1931, 1932, and 1933, and at what cost; and how many are scheduled for reconstruction to-day or at the latest available date?
§ Lieut.-Colonel HEADLAMDuring the years ending March, 1931, 1932, and 1933, the numbers of schemes approved for grants from the Road Fund for new, or reconstructed bridges in Great Britain, were 830, 522, and 194, respectively. I regret I am unable to furnish the other particulars for which my hon. Friend asks. I may add that I have under consideration at the present time proposals for facilitating the reconstruction of weak bridges on the more important roads.
§ Mr. SALTDoes not the hon. and gallant Gentleman think, in view of the improvement in trade, that this work should be accelerated?
§ Lieut.-Colonel HEADLAMWe are doing all we can to accelerate it.
§ Mr. L. SMITHSeeing that these old bridges are the cause of a number of accidents, is it not time that a good many of them should be replaced by modern steel or concrete bridges?
§ Lieut.-Colonel HEADLAMIn the original answer, I explained that we were turning our attention to the reconditioning and improvement generally of old bridges.
§ Mr. HICKSDoes the Minister agree that the number of bridges now being put into commission is substantially below the number recommended by the Royal Commission?
§ Lieut.-Colonel HEADLAMI am not prepared to answer that question at the moment as I have not the recommendations of the Royal Commission in my head, but obviously there are a great many bridges that want reconditioning.