§ Mr. Speirasked the Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation how many gallons of diesel oil for motive purposes have been allocated to British Railways for use in the first four months of this year; and how many gallons were used by British Railways in the same period of last year.
§ Mr. WatkinsonThere is no formal allocation to British Railways, but the British Transport Commission estimate that their total consumption of diesel oil for motive purposes in the first sixteen weeks of this year will be approximately 11,320 tons. This compares with 7,755 tons in the first sixteen weeks of 1956, but represents a considerable saving on the consumption required to carry out the programme as originally planned.