§ Sir W. Smithersasked the Minister of Transport (1) the amount of compensation to British railway stockholders on a net revenue basis;
(2) whether, in view of the fact that the total annual charge at 2½ per cent. on the compensation stock to be handed to railway shareholders is £25,480,000 and that the amount payable to the main line companies and the L.P.T.B. under the 1941 control agreement was £43,000,000, he will include in the forthcoming Bill provisions to compensate the stockholders for the loss of nearly half of their income.
§ Mr. BarnesI am unable to add to the statement which I made to the House last week as to the amount of compensation to railway stockholders.
§ Sir W. Smithersasked the Minister of Transport why His Majesty's Government have adopted a different basis of compensation for the stockholders of British railways to that adopted for the coal industry and Cable and Wireless.
§ Mr. BarnesI cannot agree that the circumstances of the various undertakings to which the hon. Member has drawn attention are identical, and for that reason the method of compensation is not the same.