HC Deb 20 December 1946 vol 431 cc2427-37

3.29 p.m.

Mr. Walkden (Doncaster)

I am grateful for the opportunity this afternoon of raising the subject of the shortage of coal trucks and the coal shortage, because I believe it is both urgent and important and it concerns the whole nation. The House may judge of my astonishment this morning when I received my morning papers, and learned from the "Daily Telegraph" that Leyland Motors' Iron Foundry near Preston closed last night for a fortnight, and 600 workers were stood off, because of the exhaustion of the company's coke stocks. I learned from the same report that the Austin Motor Works in Birmingham may have to close after Christmas because coal stocks are running out. In this news report it was also stated that the shortage of coke at Leyland Motors' was due to the lack of railway transport trucks. That is the evidence that is afforded to me today, and it is this to which I draw the attention of the Minister. I would emphasise that in the case of the works of Leyland Motors, they are less than 15 miles from the nearest coal area. That is a fact which must be borne in mind.

This subject of coal shortage and the shortage of coal trucks and wagons is by no means new to me. If the Minister cared to look up the files in the pigeonholes at the Ministry, he would find that I raised this subject as long ago as 1944 with the Ministers of the Coalition Government. I have raised the question of the use of timber and other materials in the repair of railway wagons and the nature of the repairs themselves. I am not unmindful of the grand job of work that was done in our railway works and workshops throughout the war when tanks and other war weapons were made. Indeed, they were using their labour in so many different ways that they had hardly time to keep in good repair the railway engines and wagons. When I raised this subject in 1944, very little was done except, I believe, on the question of railway wagons. An attempt was made to fashion some kind of austerity scheme for the repair of the wagons. Instead of wasting labour painting names, and so forth on the wagons, they put an austerity repair scheme into operation. However, that is about as far as they went. In 1944, and again in 1945, I put questions to the Minister of War Transport regarding the very serious position of the large number of engines laid up at that time. The stock was out of commission and I regret to say, on the evidence given to me from the highest authority, that many hundreds, in fact, thousands, of these railway engines are still laid up, as they were in 1944.

It occurred to me that we were really playing about with this subject in 1944 and 1945, because we were fashioning a scheme to bring trainees into the building trade. We were negotiating with the trade unions so that young men who were coming out of the Armed Forces could be trained in order to augment the vast army which we would require to build up the homesteads of Britain. I ventured to express the opinion to the Minister—if he cares to look through his files he will find it—that young engineers should be trained for the railway industry in order to repair locomotives and do all these jobs which are required to put Britain's transport in the premier position in the world, as he said the other day. In fact, during the war, it is true to say that shop assistants, fellows from behind the counter, men from the offices, and so forth, who never thought even of repairing as much as a bicycle before the war, became in 18 months trained engineers in our R.A.F. depots. They became efficient engineers adaptable and capable of doing any kind of job required to keep our bombers, those magnificent engines of war, in the air. These men became so efficient that the people who were their instructors were-astonished at their attainments.

At that time I offered the opinion to the Minister that if we could train young engineers for the R.A.F. so that they became highly efficient, it was not asking much of our young manhood, of the trade unions, nor of the different industries, to accept or encourage these young men to go as engineers, fitters, and boiler makers, so that in a similar period we would be able to train a sufficient number to be in a position to be able to repair these engines and the different rolling stock which we knew would be required after the war. We have no such training system in operation today. What is the position that we have to face? The fact is that, in the matter of locomotives and rolling stock which are out of commission today, the most up-to-date figures which I have been able to gather—although the Minister will probably contradict me—show that one-seventh of the wagons in the railway pool are at present out of commission. It is true that some are being repaired, but one-seventh of the railway wagons in Britain, and, also, almost one-seventh of the privately-owned wagons, are out of commission. That is a very serious state of affairs and, as far as I know, there are very few revolutionary ideas about how to put these wagons on the road again.

But when we come to locomotives the position is worse still. One-fifth of the locomotives of the railways of Britain are awaiting repair. One-fifth are in the sick bay. Can we possibly tolerate such a situation, whether the railways are State owned or privately owned? Whoever is responsible, it is an intolerable situation. But when we come to the L.N.E.R.— and I know precisely what was happening in Doncaster where we had over 6,000 people employed—we find that almost one-quarter of its railway engines are in the sick bay awaiting repair. I believe that in Doncaster alone we have 400 railway engines many of which have never had a wheel turning for two or three years. The people concerned have been pleading for some kind of generous help. They have been making representations, either for labour or material, because they recognise the urgency of the situation.

Many of my friends are equally puzzled by the figures, which have been announced in recent months on the export of railway engines. I know that the Minister can say, "We must export. The figures were presented to you." But they have not told us the actual figures of railway engines which we have been, and are still, exporting: There is an all-round figure in the "Monthly Digest," and it suggests that that figure is three times greater than our prewar rate of export. What has the Minister, and what have the officers of the Board of Trade, through him, done to make representations that we should slow down on this question of exporting railway engines, at least for the time being, and make urgently needed engines for an entirely different job? There is evidence in Doncaster where we have engineering equipment, coal and every kind of commodity going abroad— evidence presented to me by the different manufacturers in my own town—that embargoes have been placed on Doncaster goods going abroad because the railway companies have said that they cannot possibly handle the goods. Yet, at the same time, we are making engines in the same area and sending them abroad.

I beg the Minister to get down to this problem, and tell the country exactly what is happening. Somewhere not far from London, for example, we have an enormous number of good-looking engines standing idle. I saw a picture of them the other day in, I believe, the "Evening News." They belong to somebody— perhaps to the Minister of Supply—but I know not whom. I would ask the Minister why these engines are not put into running order right away. Why are they not brought into use immediately? The Minister may say that they were nor produced in Britain, that spare parts are missing or that there are some odds and ends which cannot be provided here in our factories. It is rather singular that when I was in France a few weeks ago, I was assured by one of the French engineers who dealt with the same type of engine that, despite the difficulties of the French Government and the engineers and railway companies in France, they are using practically every one of their engines. Where they are getting the spare parts I know not, but I know they are using the engines and we are not. These engines are standing idle. Whether it be a matter for the Minister of Supply a question of fittings or spare parts, or whatever it may be, I suggest to the Minister that those engines should be brought into use without further delay.

I am glad to see the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Fuel and Power with us this afternoon, because this question of transport and wagons is linked up with coal production, particularly in the mining villages in South Yorkshire. We are very seriously concerned with the wagon shortage. I believe it is true to say that, had it not been for the seaborne coal during the war—that is, coal conveyed in ships which sailed down the East Coast in the teeth of the enemy-Londoners would have shivered every winter during the war. It was the seaborne coal which saved London. Lon- doners certainly shivered for other reasons on many occasions, but they would have been very cold and there would have been a shortage of electricity but for the sea-borne coal which was brought down the East Coast and into the Thames Estuary. The Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Fuel and Power may be able to give assurances that the problem of London's coal supply, for the time being, at least, and for the next month or two possibly, is better than in many other parts of the country. He may say that, owing to this other form of transport by sea, we are in a better position. But I would like to ask the Parliamentary Secretary: What about the pits in the Midlands and North Midlands, in Yorkshire and Lancashire; what about the coal position there? It is a very serious question for us. Let it be placed on record—and I believe in this as I believe in my own existence—that the spirit in the mining industry among the men at the coal face was never finer in my lifetime than it is today. They are, indeed, keen to do a grand job of work and they are determined to help out in this battle of Britain. The Minister of Fuel and Power may be assured that they are backing him up to the hilt, but they feel very disturbed, as do the managers and the colliery officials, by the nightmare of wagon shortage. It is facing them every day. If snow, fog or any other similar condition comes along, these officials and members of the different staffs are disturbed.

Recently in one week, I believe we lost 25,000 tons of coal; that is, taking the coalfields as a whole. The figure may be on the decline now, but if we are losing 10,000 tons of coal a week owing to wagon shortage at the pits, it is a very serious matter for us and it must be stopped at once. We cannot afford to lose coal output owing to wagon shortage. The men at the coal face are disturbed. The locomotive drivers, particularly on the L.N.E.R. and the L.M.S., are saying, "Do not blame us. We ask you to believe that we are doing our best." I believe they are. The railwaymen generally say, "Do not blame us; we are doing our best." The locomotive drivers are troubled by the fact that there are tens of thousands of wagons stocked with coal, lying in railway sidings up and down the country. As I travel from Kings Cross to Doncaster, I myself see wagons which I know have been lying there week after week. Many of them are still there. I wonder why somebody does not make some suggestion that these wagons should be emptied. It is quite obvious that they will have to be emptied and the coal dumped somewhere, so that we can have the wagons back at the collieries, particularly certain of the collieries of South Yorkshire.

I know the Minister may say, "But that needs extra labour. We have not the manpower to empty the wagons, and to reload the wagons when we need the coal." No one seems to have suggested, as yet, that we can use these two-ton and three-ton mechanical shovels to reload the coal. We are using them in open-cast mining. We used them for all sorts of jobs during the war. I believe it would be better to dump the coal near the towns where we may, or are certain to require it. and get the wagons back to the coal mines, rather than that there should be a stoppage of our production at our pits, particularly in South Yorkshire.

I know there are other points to be raised. But I beg the Minister to accept the suggestion I have made, and to tell us precisely what his Department have done about it. What have the railway companies done? What is actually taking place? I maintain we cannot afford to allow the present position to continue. This state of affairs is very serious for us; it is serious for the railways, it is serious for the coal workers, and it is serious for the whole nation. Factories are closing down, as has been said in the House today. Factories will close down within the next week or two if some of our pits are closed as a result of wagon shortage. The people of Britain are entitled to know. I beg the Minister to avoid this industrial breakdown, and to avoid the chaos as best he can, and to tell us what plans he has, not for nationalisation which may lie months ahead but immediate plans to get over this problem of the winter, the shortage of coal, and the shortage of railway trucks.

3.48 p.m.

Mr. William Shepherd (Bucklow)

I wish to intervene for a very few moments, because I think the hon. Gentleman the Member for Doncaster (Mr. Walkden) has let off the Government far too lightly on this serious issue. The failure of the Government to realise the need for dealing with the shortage of railway wagons is, to my mind, one of the prime examples of their incompetence. The Ministry of Supply and the Board of Trade have done little or nothing to provide the railway workshops or wagon repair shops in this country with adequate materials. With a little foresight they would have seen this situation arising, but nothing has been done to help at the present time, when two and a half times the normal amount of wagons are under repair. Even more to be accused is the Minister of Transport, because he is really responsible for the present inability to distribute coal as it should be distributed.

We knew three or four months ago that the existing shortage of locomotives on the L.N.E.R. and other railways would become serious during the winter, but the Minister of Transport, who has control of the railways, and who had control of the railways during the whole of the war, allowed a programme of increased passenger services to be put into operation. If the Government are controlling the railways they should control them and accept responsibility for them, and it certainly should not have allowed this enhanced passenger service to be put into operation when it knew it would mean breaking down the distribution of coal and other essential products. What is the position today? Take one coal area, Nottingham. On Monday of this week in one group of collieries they had 727 loaded trucks at the colliery, and a lot of those trucks had been there since 6th December waiting, not in the siding but at the colliery The result is that in the Nottingham area in December the production of coal has gone down very considerably as compared with November. All this because the Minister of Transport has taken no steps to deal with a situation which will obviously have serious consequences to the country. If he were a planner at all—and to judge by the enormous Bill he has produced I assume he is—he would have foreseen this situation. The only thing I can see is that the Minister of Transport has been so busy working out this prodigious Bill that he has neglected his essential duty to the community.

I wrote to the Minister of Transport several months ago and said that to allow these increased passenger services was asking for trouble. I imagine many other hon Members have approached the Minister on similar lines. Nothing has been done, until disaster faces us. Now we are faced with factories closing down because coal cannot be got from the mines to the users. It is a story which can be retold in many other phases of our life, where the Government's preoccupation with the brave new world to come has not enabled them to look at the problems which are at their very feet, and which are leading us to disaster I hope that this time the Minister will take energetic action, because if he does not I am afraid this country will have a very difficult time during the coming winter months.

3.51 p.m.

The Minister of Transport (Mr. Barnes)

The broad facts about the deterioration of locomotive stock and wagon stock in this country, as portrayed by my hon. Friend the Member for Doncaster (Mr. Walkden), are not disputed, of course. In recent months each Monday at Question time, and particularly during the three-day Debate we have just had on the Transport Bill, the problems arising from the general deterioration of railway rolling stock in this country have surely emerged in a manner that is apparent, not only to hon. and right hon. Members of this House, but to the public at large. I am not discussing for the moment marginal adjustments that can be made on this matter, or the steps to be taken to remedy them, but the broad causes obviously are for the moment beyond the capacity of the railway companies. One cannot dispute the fact that it is there, first because before the war, as I indicated when dealing with the Transport Bill, in many respects capital equipment had not been kept up to the standard that possibly it should have been; secondly, the war came along, and for six years the railway companies of this country had to carry a really abnormal strain of heavy traffic.

Whilst that was part of their obligation, it was a military movement, moving all the military stores in this country. Hon. Members know very well that Britain was the base of the whole operation. Not merely our own military production, but a great bulk of American military production was brought into this country, and had to be handled by our railways. Because of the necessity for economy in petrol, tyres, and many other directions, traffics that normally would not have passed over our railway system were put through that form of transport. Yet, whilst the railways were carrying this abnormal burden they were not treated as a War Department; they did not get the same facilities of priority that the Army, the Navy, the Air Force and the munition factories had, with the result that there was this accelerated process of deterioration. The munition plants were shut down after the war, and had a period for retooling for peacetime production.

Whatever criticism hon. Members feel that at the moment they must direct towards either myself or any other Department, to ensure that the maximum is being done now to repair the situation, I do not think any purpose is served unless we get the practical picture in our minds. As far as the railways were concerned, there was no let-up. They had to carry on after the war. There was no pause for retooling and establishing new plant, and so on. Last year there was a general demand for increased passenger services. Pressure was brought upon the Minister to Transport on the ground that the general industrial population had experienced six years of the stress and strain of war, and were now entitled to a little relaxation with regard to holidays.

Members, at one period of the year, first press for increased facilities and then, in another, complain that they have been granted. Who would deny that the industrial workers of this country were entitled to a little relaxation last summer? The winter passenger services are not nearly so great as the services which were run in the earlier parts of the year, but even those services, inadequate as they are, are being carefully combed for the purpose of seeing what economy in locomotives they can yield.

Mr. Snadden (Perth and Kinross, Western)

It ought to have been done before.

Mr. Barnes

The railways are still running passenger services 14 per cent. below what they were before the war. In recent months economies in that direction have enabled 20 additional locomotives to be secured. I do not dispute the main essentials of the case which my hon. Friend the Member for Doncaster put up, but, as I stated the other day, 20 per cent, of the wagons—about half are privately owned, and a half railway owned—are obsolete, and ought to be completely scrapped. Fifty per cent. of our wagon stock is over age. When there has been a slow accumulation of arrears of maintenance before the war, and a rapid accumulation during the war and since, you cannot replace half a million railway wagons in 12 months with our present condition of labour and materials shortage. One of the first things I did, when I went to the Ministry, was to place an additional order for railway wagons. For the purpose of assisting the general situation an order was placed for 50,000 16-ton steel wagons. During 1946 there has been an output of about 30,000 new wagons, half of which will be available to carry coal.

I would like to say a word or two in connection with the austerity engines which were built for war purposes. Many were built in this country, some were brought back and, recently, another 200 were made available. They all needed extensive repair. I want Members to realise that the railway-owned workshops and the privately owned workshops are working to their fullest capacity with the timber and steel supplies that are available. Here we have a problem that cannot be solved readily and easily by plans for training establishments and increasing our labour supply, because our present productive capacity in railway workshops and private workshops is not being fully utilised because of this difficulty of labour and materials. Despite that, steps are being taken to prepare some of the railway shops that were used for munitions production during the war and are now moving towards release, and, so far as plant and labour and materials can be obtained, they will be put in operation as quickly as possible.

Mr. Walkden

Is it not true that, in a good many instances, evidence can be found that labour is now regularly leaving the industry?

It being Four o'clock, the Motion for the Adjournment of the House lapsed, without Question put.

Motion made, and Question proposed, "That this House do now adjourn."—[Mr. Snow.]

Mr. Barnes

Yes, I readily admit that, but we cannot lift the Essential Work. Order without recognising that we have to face a period in which labour is likely to be shifting. Surely, that is a desirable position to reach, even if it represents temporary difficulties. With regard to the point raised by the hon. Member on the use of coastal shipping, he may be interested to learn, that, up to the end of October, 17,400,000 tons of coal were moved by our coastal shipping services. Here again, however we come against another difficulty, and I hope that my hon. Friend will appreciate and will in no way dispute the desirability of getting all the timber supplies into this country that we possibly can for our housing programme, for our factory extension programme, and, as a matter of fact, to maintain the railways The supply of sleepers is reaching a very serious position in regard to the permanent tracks of this country. The necessity of getting timber supplies is just as urgent and vital a factor in getting transport moving as the building of wagons or locomotives themselves. Before what is known as the freeze-up of the Baltic, it has been essential that we should use the maximum of our coastal shipping and our short sea shipping at our disposal, to get as much timber into the country before that source of supply is closed. When we are out of the wood as far as that is concerned, we may be able to do a little more, but I want to assure hon. Members that their comments will be carefully noted and that everything that can be done, both by the railway companies and the Government, will be done.