London Passenger Transport (Agreement) [Money].

Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at on 21 June 1935.

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Photo of Mr George Lansbury Mr George Lansbury , Poplar Bow and Bromley

I am aware of that fact. An extra £5,000,000 is being raised to pay the interest over the period of construction of the works. It will, however, depend upon the fares charged and the number of passengers carried whether the results will be such as to entice people to put up the money which they are not willing to put up now. It is here that the question of fares comes in, and it makes me ask whether it would not be possible to consider the extension of the period rather than to fix it now in the way proposed.

I should like the right hon. Gentleman and the Government to consider the question of fares. When I travelled as a workman on the old Great Eastern Railway I could go 20 miles a day by travelling before 8 o'clock and after 5 on five days a week, and after 12 on Saturdays, for 2d. a day. We thought that the improvements that have been made would cheapen travel, but travel has not cheapened at all for the workmen. Whereas I used to travel for 2d. a day it now costs 6d., 9d. and so on. I am trying to safeguard the possibility, at least during the workmen's hours, of obtaining cheaper fares than are possible under present conditions. This is the opportunity for going back to where the Great Eastern Railway was before the War. When they opened out to Waltham-stow, Chingford, Enfield and Ilford there was a stipulation in the Bill giving them power that the fares should be so and so. During the War these were wiped out, and we have never got back to them. An extraordinary variation of fares exists. For instance if I rode home from here, on the District Railway going through to Plaistow and East Ham, it would cost me 10d. a day. If I rode on the workman's train it would cost me 6d. From Liverpool Street to Enfield it was 2d. a day before the War. It is an amazing difference in cost.

Some Members will be satisfied with what the Government are proposing in regard to the London and North Eastern Railway and the District Railway to the East End, but those who represent the East End and the surrounding districts that I represent cannot be satisfied. I want the right hon. Gentleman when he says that these schemes do not grow on bushes to remember that they do grow out of people's necessities. Now and then I risk my life and limb on the District Railway to Bow. If I go up fairly early in the morning I have to stand, unless people are kind and let me sit down. When I go home fairly early in the evening or late at night, I can also stand unless someone gives me a seat. That is not good enough. My hon. Friend the Member for Plaistow (Mr. Thorne) and I raised this question in the House years ago. The hon. and gallant Member for Abingdon (Sir. R. Glyn) will recollect that he, in the name of the London Midland and Scottish Railway, promised to go into the question of what should be done. I think that that was somewhere round about 1924, but nothing has been done. The pressure in the trains on the District line through to East Ham is really disgusting, disgraceful, and dangerous. It is disgusting to see boys and girls and men and women squashed up just like a bundle of faggots in those carriages. I want to ask the right hon. Gentleman whether he will not pursue his investigations. We have the cheap money available—any amount of it—