§ Mr. HANNONasked the Minister of Transport the total number of men employed on the British railways, both salaried officials and weekly wage earners, on 31st December, 1924, and the corresponding figures for 1913?
§ Colonel ASHLEYThe latest information in my possession as to the number of persons employed by the railway companies in Great Britain refers to the week ended 29th March, 1924, at which date the total number of persons so employed was 700,573, or, excluding ancillary businesses, 658,897. The number of staff at the 31st December, 1913, returned by the companies was 614,496, but this figure is not strictly comparable with either of the figures for 1924 because the method of compilation in 1913 was not uniform so far as staff employed in connection with ancillary businesses were concerned. The figures for 1924 were published in detail in a Return issued by my Department on the 15th of September last, and a further census will be taken for a week in the current month.
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