Orders of the Day — ELECTRICITY (SUPPLY) BILL [Lords].

Part of the debate – in the House of Commons am ar 25 Gorffennaf 1922.

Danfonwch hysbysiad imi am ddadleuon fel hyn

Photo of Mr John Hills Mr John Hills , City of Durham

I beg to move, "That the Clause be read a Second time."

The subject is not free of difficulty, though the Clause is quite simple. It allows a railway company which takes supply from any joint electricity authority to use that supply outside the area of supply of that authority, as well as inside the area. When a railway company takes a supply of electricity it ought not to be limited to the area of supply, but ought to be allowed to use that supply for the purpose of traction. It often occurs that the line of a railway company crosses the boundary of several areas, and it would be extremely inconvenient if, when the train of the railway crosses an imaginary line, a fresh supply of electricity had to be taken. In fact, it would be a quite impossible position. You could not electrify any great length of line unless you could carry your power forward into a fresh area. Electric traction is only now beginning. The fact has been recognised, and it is now permissible to companies to use the power outside the area of supply under Section 5 of the Electric Lighting Act of 1909. Section 5 of that Act authorises that to be done, but only with the consent of the Board of Trade, and the powers of the Board of Trade are now vested in the Transport Ministry. If the matter rested there, there would be no difficulty. But the Clause goes on to say that the Board of Trade shall not give such consent until they have given notice by advertisement, and have allowed an opportunity for all persons to be heard, and have, in fact, held a local inquiry. Therefore, no railway can get this very essential power until it has gone to the Minister of Transport and he has held an inquiry.

I am sorry to have to weary the House with more complicated details, but I cannot put the whole ease unless I deal with the Act of 1919. The House is aware of the circumstances in which that Act was introduced. One of the objects certainly was to facilitate the use of electric power upon railroads. To a certain extent, the Act does so. But it does not meet this special point. In fact, it rather darkens counsel in this respect. In Section 12 of the Act, of 1919 are the provisions for the supply of power to a railway company. But there the supply is limited to supply within the district of the Joint Electricity Authority, and there is no power to use the power outside the area. Again, although Section 5 of the Act of 1919 authorises schemes to be prepared for the supply of power, yet it also contemplates the use of that power only inside the area of supply. Further, the whole of the Act of 1919 is stated to be construed as one with the Electric Lighting Acts, and that expression includes Section 5 of the Act of 1909. So it comes back to this—that wherever you go you always have to obtain the consent of the Minister of Transport, and he cannot give that consent without an inquiry. I welcome the statement which the Parliamentary Secretary made on the last Amendment. He told us that he was very much opposed to a multiplicity of inquiries. I hope I may pray that statement in aid. If you go under the Act of 1919, and a railway applies for authority to use power outside an area, two inquiries have to be held. One inquiry is concerned only with the persons inside the district itself, and the second inquiry is concerned with those outside. This cannot be clone by a single inquiry, for the interests are quite different.

It is certain that the use of electric power is going to increase rapidly. I submit that the best thing for the public is that companies should use electricity, whenever they can get it, on their system. What would happen in practice is that the supply would be taken at a substation and used along the line as long as it was profitable commercially. Why should a railway not be able to take the supply on the most economical terms? it surely is to the general advantage that they should do so. I ask, is it not time that these restrictions should be removed? I am not asking for a very big concession. All I want to do is to remove the bar and the expense and the delay entailed by these two inquiries. If the Government feel that they cannot accede to this request, I shall drop the matter, but it is a very important question, and it is in the best interest of the country that electrical power in traction should he facilitated in all ways possible.