Captain Euan Wallace: In order to ascertain the extent of the demand, a third class sleeping-car is to be attached to the night trains between Stranraer and Euston in each direction for a period of one month from Sunday last.
Captain Euan Wallace: If it is sufficiently well patronised I hope we shall be able to continue it.
Captain Euan Wallace: That is rather a different question, and perhaps the hon. Member will put it down or have a talk with me afterwards.
Captain Euan Wallace: As part of the war organisation of the Ministry of Transport, arrangements have been made for the rapid transfer of road vehicles, no less than railway rolling stock, to any part of the country where special emergency needs may arise. Discussions have recently taken place with the Road Transport (Defence) Advisory Committee in order to see whether the arrangements for the operation of road...
Captain Euan Wallace: Mobility is one of the great advantages of road transport and I shall certainly do nothing to impair it.
Captain Euan Wallace: We have a definite policy as regards continuing with road schemes. They are being continued where military needs require it; in other cases we are bound to think of the cost.
Captain Euan Wallace: No, Sir, our inquiries do not show that at present.
Captain Euan Wallace: The provisions which the hon. Member has in mind came into force shortly before the outbreak of war, and apply only to motor vehicles which are used for naval, military or Air Force purposes and either are the property of the Admiralty, the War Department or the Air Ministry, or are being driven by persons for the time being subject to the orders of a member of the Armed Forces of the Crown....
Captain Euan Wallace: I do not really think that is the case. First of all, these regulations do not, as I rather think the hon. Gentleman believes, give any exemption in any circumstances from the 30-miles-an-hour limit in built-up areas. All that they do in certain circumstances—and in at least one of the Service Departments written permission has to be obtained—is to give permission to a lorry which is...
Captain Euan Wallace: Well, that is what the regulations are for, and they are generally understood to mean that. The speed limit in built-up areas is in no way affected.
Captain Euan Wallace: I do not think that in present circumstances it would be in the public interest to reduce the minimum age for the driving of motor vehicles.
Captain Euan Wallace: I do not think there is any reason to suppose at the present moment that the shortage of drivers is so great that it is necessary to repeat the experiment of the last war. I think the House will agree that there are certain road safety considerations which make it inadvisable to employ persons under 17 as drivers unless we have to.
Captain Euan Wallace: As most of the railway-owned passenger steamers on the Clyde have been taken over for war purposes, the companies' summer services have had to be curtailed, and they will be unable to run a service to Campbeltown. Owing to the small amount of traffic, the Clyde and Campbeltown Shipping Company have discontinued their service except for two small cargo steamers. Passengers to Campbeltown can,...
Captain Euan Wallace: I would refer the hon. Member to the Railways (Additional Charges) Order, 1940, dated 17th April, 1940 (Statutory Rules and Orders 1940 No. 586), under which the authorised addition to railway fares is 10 per cent. of the fare in operation, subject to certain fractions rules. It was necessary to adopt some practical rules for dealing with fractions of a penny, and those adopted on this...
Captain Euan Wallace: I have never sought to under-estimate the hardship that any increase in railway fares is bound to impose upon people, and the less well-to-do the people the greater the hardship; but it is in pursuance of an agreement that these charges are put on. We have dealt with fractions of a penny in the way they have been dealt with by the Railway Rates Tribunal in the past.
Captain Euan Wallace: I have explained in my answer that some people get the benefit of the doubt and others do not. In some cases there are no increases at all.
Captain Euan Wallace: As I stated in reply to my hon. Friend the Member for North Kensington (Mr. Duncan) on 7th February, I should not hesitate to have recourse to my powers under the Defence Regulations to ensure that an unjustified burden is not placed upon consumers if it should be shown to my satisfaction in any individual case that prices have been raised to an undue extent, even within the limits of...
Captain Euan Wallace: I shall be very pleased, as I have said, to look into any individual cases which hon. Members in any quarter of the House bring to my notice, but I think that my hon. and gallant Friend will recognise that what is envisaged in his Question is a policy of subsidies to the consumers of electricity and that this at the present moment is not practicable.
Captain Euan Wallace: The answer to the first part of the Question is a long one, involving a considerable number of figures, and I will, with permission, circulate it in the Official Report. As regards the second part of the Question, I can assure my hon. Friend that the closest touch is maintained with the military authorities in order to ensure that schemes necessary to meet war requirements are put in hand...
Captain Euan Wallace: That, I think, is an entirely different question.
