Rural Transport Debate Likely
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THE transport problems of the countryside, particularly the threat to uneconomic railway lines, are to be raised in Parliament next Monday by Mr. Frank Hayman, Labour M.P. for the Falmouth and Camborne division of Cornwall. Mr. Hayman is seeking to provoke a wide cross-party debate on a motion summing up his feeling that "unless something is done for rural transport, the countryside is going to wither."
Sixty-six-year-old Mr. Hayman, who is Parliamentary Private Secretary to Mr. Hugh Gaitskell, hopes that M.P.s from all sides who represent rural constituencies will join him in speaking their minds and expressing their fears.
Although the Government's failure to take swift action on the recommendations of the Jack Committee is bound to he condemned, Dr. Beeching's future actions as railways chief are Mr. Hayman's chief apprehension. Faced with an important branch line closure in his constituency, he will urge co-ordination of rural buses and trains on an adequate scale, and indicate that he feels that the future of ordinary people living in the countryside who do not possess private cars looks "pretty dim."
Mr. John Hay (Parliamentary Secretary, Ministry of Transport). will give the Government's answer, to 'Mr. Hayman's case.