Rural Transport Deputation PA A STRONG deputation of countryside interests, led
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by Mr. Rupert Speir, M.P. for Hexham, had a 45-minute meeting on rural transport problems with the Prime Minister and Transport Minister on Tuesday. Two main aspects of the problem were discussed—the situation caused by railway closures and the equally disturbing state of affairs caused by the deterioration of bus services in many of these areas.
Mr. Marples is understood to have firmly emphasized that the final decision on any British Railways plan to reduce rural railway services in the future would be his, and not Dr. Beeching's, Mr. Macmillan said he was " grateful " for the deputation's views and promised that he and Mr. Marples would give careful consideration to the problems explained.
Mr. Speir, in the tenth year of a campaign on rural transport, pressed his view that, for a mere fleabite compared with the millions paid out to the railways, rural buses could be put on a serviceable footing.
He complained that it seemed the Government "didn't care."