§ Mr. Cartwrightasked the Secretary of State for the Environment what consideration his Department is giving to the possibility of increasing the volume of freight traffic carried on the nation's inland waterways system.
§ Mr. Denis HowellThe British Waterways Board is always seeking to secure greater use of its waterways for freight carrying. It has to be recognised, however, that the possibilities are limited. My Department proposes to
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Road mileages—1st April 1974 Motorways Other dual arriageway Cars in use(1973* (thousands) North … … … … 100 147 651 Yorkshire and Humberside … … … … 101 191 974 East Midlands … … … … 104 181 894 East Anglia … … … … — 144 523 South-East … … … … 241 570 4,771 South-West … … … … 145 143 1,176 West Midlands … … … … 139 248 1,315 North-West … … … … 204 251 1,510 Wales … … … … 27 85 682 Scotland … … … … 98 303 1,001 Northern Ireland … … … … 61 50 304† * Private cars and private vans with current licences in each region in the third quarter. 1973 † 1972 figure.
1970 … … … … 3.3 1971 … … … … 3.7 1972 … … … … 4.1 1973 … … … … 4.7
§ Mr. Mikardoasked the Secretary of State for the Environment whether he will, by providing figures for 1973, bring up to date the statistics for the rail carryings of iron and steel materials and finished products which were originally given in tables 3(i) and 4(i) of the Hall Report and then updated in Written Answers 3rd December 1965 columns 277 and 278.
§ Mr. CarmichaelI understand from the British Railways Board that the figures are as follows:
commission some general research into the prospects.