§ Sir R. BLAIRasked the President of the Board of Trade whether he is aware that the Colne Valley Water Company applied to the Board of Trade, under The Statutory Undertakings (Temporary Increase of Charges) Act, 1918, for an Order authorising the company to make increased charges up to 45 per cent.; that the Board of Trade, in a letter dated 6th April, 1921, stated that they 2099W only required the company to give notice of the application to the local authorities; that they omitted to comply with the Regulations of Section 1, Sub-section (2), of the Act, which state that before making an Order the appropriate Government Department shall require the undertakers, the water company, to give public notice of the application for an Order under this Act, and as to the manner in which, and time within which, representations may be made, and to give a similar notice in writing to the council of each county, borough, or urban or rural district within which any part of the undertaking or limits of the supply of the undertaking is situate, and the Department shall consider any representations which may be duly made; and whether, in view of the fact that such public notice was not given, he will state the reason why the Standing Order has not been complied with?
§ Mr. BALDWINThe application by the Colne Valley Water Company was for the variation of an increased rate of charge under a provision contained in an Order made by the Board of Trade on the 6th July, 1920, under the Statutory Undertakings (Temporary Increase of Charges) Act, 1918. It was not, therefore, an application made directly under the Act of 1918, and the Board of Trade did not think it necessary to require public advertisement of the application, but they directed that notice should be served upon the local authorities concerned. In order to confine the increased rates to the least possible amount, it has been the practice of the Board of Trade, in dealing with such cases, to estimate the undertakers' requirements, for a comparatively short period, and to provide in the Order that the increase found necessary for that period shall be subject to variation either by way of increase or decrease from time to time. The increase authorised by the Order of July, 1920, was 25 per cent., subject to variation at any time after the 31st October, 1920, and in December, 1920, the company applied for a further increase of 35 per cent., making 60 per cent. in all. Representations were received from all the local authorities concerned, and an inquiry was held at which counsel and witnesses on behalf of the Middlesex County Council, who represented all the authorities, were heard, with the result that the Board of Trade decided that a2100W further increase of 20 per cent. was then required to enable the company to earn the dividend authorised by the Act of 1918, making an increase of 45 per cent. in all. The Board therefore authorised the increased rate to be put in operation, subject to further revision from time to time.