HL Deb 25 July 1961 vol 233 cc905-6

2.31 p.m.

LORD MONTAGU OF BEAULIEU

My Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.

[The Question was as follows:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what, in view of the future reorganisation of the British Transport Commission, is going to happen to the relics and archives now owned or cared for by the Commission.]

THE JOINT PARLIAMENTARY SECRETARY, MINISTRY OF TRANSPORT (LORD CHFSHAM)

My Lords, this is one of the matters which my right honourable friend the Minister of Transport is at present considering in connection with the forthcoming legislation on the reorganisation of the British Transport Commission.

LORD MONTAGU OF BEAULIEU

My Lords, the noble Lord will appreciate that there is some public concern about the future of these relics, which contain not only the Royal coaches dating back to the time of Queen Adelaide, but also some of our most famous locomotives. Will the Government consider perhaps keeping these relics in a museum similar to the Royal Science Museum?

LORD CHESHAM

My Lords, I am unable to say exactly what steps will seem to be best. But I appreciate the concern which my noble friend has expressed on behalf of the public, and their interest in this matter, and I shall certainly be pleased to inform my right honourable friend of what he has said.

VISCOUNT ELIBANK

My Lords, is the noble Earl aware that when the railways were nationalised I came to an arrangement on behalf of the London and North Eastern Railway Company, with the then Chairman of the British Transport Commission, now Lord Hurcomb, that the relics and archives in Edinburgh and in York should not be moved from the places where they then were; and they have been there ever since and have, indeed, been added to? Could the noble Lord give the House an assurance that these archives and relics will remain in the Scottish and the North-Eastern regions, where they are to-day?

LORD CHESHAM

My Lords, again, while I am not to-day in a position to give the House an assurance on that question, I can certainly assure the noble Viscount that I will inform my right honourable friend of what he has said.