§ * THE EARL OF DUDLEY, in moving the Second Beading of this Bill, said the object of this Measure was to facilitate by special legislative means the extension of railway communication in districts where at present the means of transport were very inadequate. The Bill had been brought forward mainly in the interest of the agricultural industry, and he did not hesitate to express a hope 1430 that it might be found to be a useful addition to those other measures, by which the present Government had sought to relieve to some extent the depression which undoubtedly existed amongst many of the agriculturists of the country. At the same time the Bill was not framed in the interest of agriculture alone, and the Government trusted that if it passed into law other industries also would derive some benefit from its provisions. No one would deny the enormous advantages which all traders derived from the power afforded them by our railway system of distributing their merchandise with case and rapidity; but, important as the facilities of communication undoubtedly were to ordinary traders, they were often more so to agriculturists, whose produce was often very perishable, and which must, therefore, in order to command a fair price, arrive at the markets without delay. It so happened that in many of the country districts the means of transport were by no means what they might be. For instance, in seven counties in England and lowland Scotland there were no less than one million acres of cultivated land more than three miles from a railway station. In Wiltshire, out of a total acreage in round numbers of 859,000, 325,000 were thus situated. In Suffolk there were 286,000, in Herefordshire 102,000, and in Berwickshire 128,000 acres more than three miles from a railway station. The inconvenience and expense that must be entailed upon those who cultivated those acres could well be imagined. There had been a very widespread demand that Parliament should attempt by some means or another to stimulate the extension of railway communication. That demand was very clearly expressed at a conference, including representatives of the most experienced and well-informed opinion upon the subject, summoned by Mr. Bryce in 1894. In France and in Belgium systems of secondary railways had been established for some time with great advantage to both consumers and producers. Mr. Ritchie, Sir Courtenay Boyle, and he made a short tour of inspection last autumn. They found that in Belgium especially the establishment of light lines had been attended with great success, that they were cheaply constructed, and as a whole 1431 profitably worked, and that even in those districts where they were not worked at direct profit, so great were the benefits derived from them that their further extension was still being asked for. There were good reasons to believe that an extension of railway communication in this country would in many cases be very advantageous, particularly to the agricultural population, and that if such an object could be facilitated by legislation it was the duty of the Government to undertake legislation. In considering the direction of any such legislation it was necessary to bear in mind that the development of railway communication by private enterprise depended mainly upon one condition, the condition of profitable investment. It might be assumed with considerable certainty that in those districts where an extension of railway communication was now required the conditions were not such as to promise, under existing circumstances, a fair return upon private capital invested in the lines, and the first problem, therefore, which the Government had had to consider was whether by legislation those conditions could be improved, whether the cost of establishing and working new lines could be so materially reduced as to hold out a prospect of a fair return upon the money invested in them. After considerable consideration the Government had come to the conclusion that it was possible and expedient to effect such a reduction in, at any rate, two directions. In the first place, the present cost of promoting a new railway was a very heavy item. As the law now stood, compulsory powers for the acquisition of land for the purpose of a railway could only be acquired by a direct appeal to Parliament, and the cost of that appeal was very great. In the second place, the working expenses of a railway were greatly increased by the regulations enforced by the Board of Trade in the interest of public safety, regulations which always tended to increase rather than to diminish in stringency. In both those directions the Government considered it practicable to effect a considerable reduction, and the method by which they proposed to do so was one which, though somewhat novel, would he hoped, meet with the approval of the House. They proposed to set up a Light Railways 1432 Commission of three members, to whom all applications for power to construct railways under the Bill would be submitted. The members of the Commission had already been selected, and he was glad to say Lord Jersey had consented to act. Of the other two members one was a gentleman of legal knowledge, and the other was an officer who had served for several years in the Royal Engineers, and who had much experience of State Railways in India. The latter would receive £1,000 a year. The functions of this Commission would be of a very important character, and on the manner in which the members discharged their duty would depend the success of their proposal. They would have to carefully consider every scheme, satisfy themselves that there was a real need in the locality, that all persons who might be affected had been consulted, and that full opportunity was given for objections to be heard. The local inquiries of the Commissioners would not be of a merely judicial or administrative kind. They would be expected also to help and advise the promoters of light railways in any way that they could, carrying out this work in a sympathetic and informal manner. If the Commissioners were satisfied that a scheme was a good one then they would have to approve the order authorising the undertaking, which would be sent to the Board of Trade for confirmation. Objection had been taken that too much latitude was allowed to vary the provisions of the Lands Clauses Act. He should in Committee propose an Amendment to insure that such portions of that Act as related to the acquisition of land should be embodied in their entirety. Further precautions were taken as to the responsibility of the Board of Trade, and it would be in the power of the Board to say whether any scheme should be submitted to the direct judgment of Parliament. He was aware that objection had been taken that land should not be compulsorily acquired, except on the express direct sanction of Parliament. He hoped that that objection would not be pressed. They believed that no real injustice was possible. On the other hand, he would express his opinion that unless the present cost of promotion was lessened by relieving promoters of the necessity of applying to 1433 Parliament, serious and, in some cases, insurmountable obstacles would be placed in the way of these light railways. They proposed to lessen the cost of promotion and also the cost of working. It would not be necessary to take in sparsely-populated land, where only four or five trains would run in a day, the precautions for safety which would be necessary in centres of population. So far he had dealt with the cheapening and simplifying clauses of the Bill. They were founded mainly on the recommendations of the Committee which sat in 1894, but, although they agreed in these recommendations, they did not think that they went far enough in some respects. Simplification was necessary, but it was not the sum total of what was necessary. Some financial help from Imperial and local sources would also in many cases be required, and provision was therefore made in the Bill for aid of that kind. But before the Treasury was called upon to lend money for a light railway it was necessary that it should be satisfied that all the parties in the locality, who were concerned in the undertaking, were co-operating and providing for their share of the expense. They sought to establish the safeguard that State aid only should be given when the bonâ fides of the undertaking were guaranteed by those responsible for the administration of the locality. They had, however, foreseen that cases might arise where a local authority was not in a position to provide a contribution, and in such cases they had followed the experience of Mr. Balfour's Act in Ireland. He hoped he had said enough to convince their Lordships that this was a Measure which attempted to deal in a practical manner with a question of some importance, and that therefore it deserved to be passed into law. [Cheers.]
THE BISHOP OF SALISBURYasked whether there was any place in England where the working of a light railway could be seen, and also what was the cost of constructing such a railway.
§ * THE EARL OF DUDLEYsaid there were several light railways in this country. Mr. Ritchie and himself had visited one in Cambridgeshire. Their experience in Belgium led them to believe that these lines could be made at about £3,000 or £4,000 per mile.
§ THE LORD CHANCELLOR OF IRELANDI wish to inform the Rev. Prelate that he need not go to Belgium to see those railways. He has only to take a pleasant summer trip to Ireland, and he will see lots of them. [Laughter.]
* THE CHAIRMAN OF COMMITTEESsympathised with the objects of the Bill, but did not altogether agree with the methods by which those objects were to be attained. His noble Friend had said that the principal object of the Bill was to simplify and render less costly the existing procedure in regard to the promotion and construction of light railways. But how was that done? It was done by giving absolutely uncontrolled powers to the Light Railway Commission appointed by the Board of Trade, and to the Board of Trade, a branch of the Executive Government, which powers had up to the present time been exercised exclusively by the Legislature. He agreed that the present procedure before Parliament might be simplified and rendered cheaper and easier; and if the Bill but accomplished that object it would have the sympathy of everyone who wished to see enterprise encouraged in this country. But it was quite a different thing for Parliament to surrender all its powers to a Government Department which was checked by no legislation, for as he read the Bill, the Board of Trade could, by the operation of its provisions, override the Lands Clauses, Railway Clauses and the Companies Clauses Acts. They had heard a great deal about light railways, but he did not think that anyone in the House or out of it had any notion of what a light railway was or was intended to be. There was no sort of definition of it in the Bill, or in any Act, that he was aware of. Therefore the word "light" was an inoperative term in connection with the Bill. The Bill included not merely all tramways, but any railway which the Board of Trade thought might justly be brought within its scope. It certainly included tramways in towns, and it might include large trunk lines throughout the country. He was aware that Clause 9, Sub-section 3, provided that if the Board of Trade after having considered an application were of opinion that by reason of the magnitude of the proposed undertaking, and the effect 1435 thereof on the undertaking of a railway company, the proposals of the promoters ought to be be submitted to Parliament, it should not confirm the Order. But that was entirely in the discretion of the Board of Trade; and there was no appeal to Parliament from an Order of the Board of Trade, as, according to Clause 10, such Order was to have the same effect as if enacted by Parliament. Then, who were the promoters of those applications? They were, first, local bodies—municipalities, County Councils and District Councils—who were to be empowered, not merely to construct, but to work those railways; and, secondly, any individuals or limited companies. Up to the present, Parliament had only given compulsory powers, under certain safeguards, to companies incorporated by Act of Parliament for the purpose of carrying out an undertaking for the public benefit, and railway lines constructed merely to serve private interests were excluded. Those restrictions were removed in the discretion of the Board of Trade. He confessed it seemed to him a doubtful policy to turn Boards of Guardians and County Councils into amateur railway contractors and directors. Under the existing law, municipalities and local authorities were confined, in their operations under the Tramways Acts, strictly within the limits of their own districts. But, under this Bill, any local authority might construct a railway beyond its own district, in an absolutely undefined and in an absolutely uncontrolled manner, on proof, merely to the satisfaction of the Board of Trade, that such extension of the railway was expedient in the interest of the district. It would be possible, though he did not say it was probable, that under this Bill the London County Council and the Oxford County Council might make a line between Oxford and London; and it would be possible also for a company to make a tramway through the streets of London, evading all the provisions of the Tramways Acts, without the consent of the frontagers or the local authorities, and without the precautions which were taken under the Tramways Acts for the sale of those undertakings to the local bodies. At present procedure was regulated by the Standing Orders of Parliament, and by 1436 the Clauses Acts. Under those regulations, plans and sections had to be deposited at fixed periods, advertisements had to be published in the local papers, und notices had to be served on owners and occupiers of lands proposed to be compulsorily taken. It was true that, under Clause 7, the Commissioners were told to take all reasonable steps for consulting with the owners and occupiers of the lands proposed to be taken; but there were no definite instructions as to how owners and occupiers were to be informed of the proposed construction of the railway. Surely, it was absolutely necessary that there should be statutory obligations to deposit at fixed times proper plans and sections of the proposed railway? Surely, there should also be a statutory provision that notice should be given to owners and occupiers, and, where roads were used, to local authorities having control over the roads. When an application was sanctioned by the Commissioners it went before the Board of Trade for confirmation. Here, again, there were no definite instructions given to the Board of Trade, nor could there be obtained from the Bill a ghost of an idea as to how the Board of Trade would act in carrying out the large and important duties with which they were intrusted under the Bill. Sub-section (a) of Clause 11 enabled the Board of Trade to incorporate the Clauses Acts, which were practically an important code of laws in relation to the taking of land by railway companies, with such variations and exceptions as they might think fit. He thought it was absolutely wrong to allow any branch of the Legislature to vary statutes enacted by Parliament. Again, the Board of Trade was to appoint a single arbitrator to whom all questions of compensation for land taken compulsorily were to be referred, thus superseding the Lands Clauses Act. With the objects of the Bill in promoting railways and cheapening the cost of their construction he fully sympathised. But the Board of Trade, both in the inception of schemes and in the promotion of schemes, had practically uncontrolled power. He had great confidence in the Board of Trade. Its officials were extremely able and they always endeavoured to do their duty by the public. But the Board of Trade was a public office; its heads were political Ministers of great 1437 importance who were constantly changing, and it was impossible to say what views the heads of the Department would take in the future of the large and and unchecked powers given them by the Bill. It would be out of his power to offer any suggestions for the Amendment of the Bill in Committee, and Amendments of importance should certainly be moved in Committee of the Whole House and not in the Standing Committee to which the Bill would be referred. He would therefore make a few suggestions to his noble Friend in charge of the Bill which, if adopted, might meet to some extent the objection he took to parts of the Bill. In the first place, there should be in the Bill some definition of a light railway, or at any rate some indication of what its objects were. It was stated in the first Hub-section of Clause 5 of the Bill that where it was certified to the Treasury by the Board of Agriculture that the making of a light railway would benefit agriculture, or by the Board of Trade that by it a necessary means of communication would be established between a fishing harbour and a village, or that it would tend to the development and maintenance of some definite industry—he would add also the development of any remote or inhabited district—advances would be made by the Treasury for such light railway. He thought they should take that as an indication of the principal objects of a light railway. He also suggested that the extent of a light railway should be limited to 15 or 20 miles, unless the Light Railway Commission approved of a greater length, in which case there should be a special report to Parliament. He suggested, further, that in a given time, before the Commissioners held an Inquiry into an application made to them, plans and sections on a fixed scale should be deposited in some place where those interested could have access to them. Otherwise it would be impossible for those interested to know the effect the railway would have on properties through which it would pass. Notices should also be served on every owner and occupier whose land it was proposed to take compulsorily. The powers given to the Board of Trade to vary any Statute of Parliament should be taken absolutely out of the Bill. He should like, if it could be done, that the regulations 1438 which obviously the Board of Trade must make in consequence of this Bill should, in some way or other, be laid before Parliament for approval. He should also like to see the schemes approved by the Board of Trade laid before Parliament. They were setting a dangerous precedent in giving those large powers to a branch of the Executive absolutely uncontrolled by Parliament whose functions they had hitherto been. Whether the supervision of schemes approved by the Board of Trade should be secured to Parliament by means of Provisional Orders, as in the case of Public Health Bills, or by laying the schemes for a definite time on the Table of the House, as in the case of Charity Commissioners' Schemes, he left his noble Friend to decide, but he thought that Parliament should be cognisant of what was going on in regard to light railways. He was not in any sense hostile to the Bill. He sympathised, as he had said, with its objects. He feared that the benefits which agriculture would reap from it had been somewhat exaggerated. He did not, however, under-rate the importance of cheapening and developing local communication, especially communication between harbours and fishing villages, which could not afford large railways. But much as he sympathised with the objects of the Bill, it seemed so strong a Measure that he should scarcely be performing his duty if he did not call the attention of the House to its provisions. [Cheers.]
§ Motion agreed to; Bill read 2a accordingly, and committed to a Committee of the Whole House on Monday next.