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No Provision for • Dearer Coal

20th March 1953, Page 47
20th March 1953
Page 47
Page 47, 20th March 1953 — No Provision for • Dearer Coal
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

wiliEN the Transport Tribunal con

tinued its hearing Of the British Transport Commission's new draft passenger charges scheme, last week, Sir Reginald Wilson, comptroller of the 13.1'.C., said that there was no provision in it for the latest increase in coal prices.

He told Mr. D. Turner-Samuels, representing the London Trades Council, that this increase would cost the Commission an extra £4m. annually. London Transport would be affected to the extent of a few hundred thousand pounds. There was at present no scheme in preparation to cover the coal increase, There was a world of difference, Sir Reginald said, between the Com mission's being "a little in the black and a little in the red." It was essential for deficits to be avoided not only for financial reasons but also for the psychological effect upon the public and the workers.

The B.T.C. had been running at a surplus since mid-1950 and signs were that there would he a small surplus for 1952. "It should be a cardinal point of financial policy to see that we do not slip back into the red in 1953," he declared. Higher fares would yield an extra £2m. in a future year, but the result largely depended upon the trend of costs.

Unaudited traffic receipts of the London Transport Executive for 1952 showed net earnings of £900,000. There was a substantial profit for the Road Haulage Executive, but it was not as big as he £3.7m. surplus for 1951.

On Monday, Sir Reginald denied suggestions by Mr. C. Osmond Turner, for the London Passengers' Association.

that the B.T.C. thought largely in terms of fares increases to solve financial difficulties, whereas other undertakings took a different view. The Commission's rates, said Sir Reginald, had to rise because other people's prices rose first.

He also denied that the increase in carriage rates was the biggest factor in the rise in the price of coal. This did not affect the Commission, as it purchased its coal at pithead prices.

NO UNDUE DELAY NO UNDUE DELAY

DENY1NG that there had been any undue delay in hearing appeals connected with the Glasgow-Birmingham night express services of .Northern Roadways, Ltd., Mr. Gurney Braithwaite said in the House of Commons, on Monday, that an inquiry was to be

held next Tuesday. Sixteen appeals had been lodged between November 24 and December 12 and the documents in question were not available until February 16.

ONE EVERY 39 MINUTES

IN the House of Commons, on

Monday, Mr. P. Wells said that bad roads in Kent were partly responsible for accidents during 1952 at the rate of one every 19 minutes.


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