§ 18. Mr. Ernest Daviesasked the Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation the average annual rate of the emoluments payable to the chairmen and members of the railway area boards in 1956 and at the present time; and when the last change in such rates took place.
§ Mr. NugentI am informed by the British Transport Commission that when its Accounts for 1957 are published they will show that the total amount paid in fees to members of its area boards was substantially the same as in 1956. The scale of fees has not changed since the boards were set up.
§ Mr. Ernest DaviesI thank the Joint Parliamentary Secretary for that reply which is more forthcoming than the replies we have had on the last two Wednesdays. Can the hon. Gentleman state why his right hon. Friend has been so secretive over this matter? Questions have been pressed upon him regarding the fees paid and only now is he willing to give them and to allay the suspicions which have been held in many quarters that these fees have been increased.
§ Mr. NugentI do not know how those suspicions arose. My right hon. Friend did say when he was last at the Dispatch Box that if the hon. Member would put 1187 this Question on the Order Paper, he would give him the answer. In fact at that time we did not have the information which I have now given.