§ 101. Mr. Pannellasked the Minister of Transport the date on which he gave his approval to the order authorising in creased fares on the undertaking of the Leeds Corporation; and why the publication was in advance of the making of the order and contrary to a request from the Traffic Commissioners that the matter should be sub judice pending the making of the order, and was not in accordance with usual procedure in such matters.
§ Mr. BarnesA letter was sent on 9th May from my Department to the Town Clerk of Leeds saying that I was prepared to make an order authorising, with one exception, the increased tram fares proposed by the Corporation, for which purpose I should require to have copies of the new schedules of fares. At the same time, the terms of the letter were communicated to the licensing authority for public service vehicles who were waiting to announce, concurrently with mine, their 73W decision on an application for authority to increase bus fares. This was in accordance with the usual procedure in such cases and was intended to enable the transport undertaking to put in hand, while the formal documents were being prepared, the steps necessary to bring the increased fares into operation, such as the printing of tickets and the display of notices in the vehicles. The matter was expedited in my Department because of two letters previously received from the Town Clerk asking, on behalf of the Corporation, for an early decision in view of the steadily deteriorating position of the transport undertaking. I know of no request that the matter should be sub judice pending the making of the order.