§ Mr. M. STEVENSasked the Minister of Transport, if he will state the numbers of the staff employed by the Railway Clearing House on any date in 1914 before August and now; and if he will state the salaries of the chairman, the secretary, the solicitor, and of any other principal officer, and the extent to which the duties of the Clearing House have been varied from pre-War to the present time?
§ Sir E. GEDDES:The particulars for which the hon. Member asks are not in my possession, but the principal alteration in the duties of the Railway Clearing House since the beginning of control has arisen from the cessation of the division of receipts between the companies 467W of which possession was taken. This economy of labour freed a large number of men for duties outside the Clearing House during the War. The staff which is now engaged in preparing statistics for the railway companies was redundant, and claims for compensation under Section 7 of the Ministry of Transport Act would have arisen had work not been provided for them.