§ Lord H. CAVENDISH-BENTINCKasked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Transport what decrease, since August, 1920, has taken place in the wages paid to their servants by the railway companies; what diminution of expenditure on coal by the companies has occurred since the same date; and what reserves have the principal railway companies now accumulated?
§ Colonel ASHLEYThe. railway companies inform me that the expenditure on salaries and wages by the railway companies in Great Britain in 1922 was approximately £117,000,000. At the rates of salaries and wages in force in August, 1920, they estimate that the expenditure was at the annual rate of approximately £154,000,000, and, at the March, 1923, rates, of £111,000,000. The expenditure on salaries and wages for the year 1913 was approximately £47,000,000. The total amount charged to locomotive running by the railway companies of Great Britain in respect of fuel for the year 1922 was approximately £15,000,000. It is understood that this represents the expenditure up to the point at which the coal is placed in a locomotive tender. The approximate annual expenditure on fuel for the year 1920 on the same basis was £25,000,000. For the year 1923, if the February level of prices and consumption be assumed, the expenditure on fuel is estimated at approximately £14,000,000. The expenditure for 1913 was approximately £8,500,000. The depreciation and reserve funds shown in the balance-sheets of the railway companies in Great Britain at 31st December, 1922, amounted approximately to £130,000,000. The corresponding figure at 31st December, 1913, was approximately £20,700,000.