Part of the debate – in the House of Commons am ar 25 Gorffennaf 1922.
Mr. JONES:
That is exactly the position of the ratepayer in every case. Suppose we have a municipal tramway service. If at the end of the year there is a loss on the service, that loss has to be made up by the general body of ratepayers. Yet the public get the advantage in cheaper fares, and what they lose on the swings they more than get back on the roundabouts. If business is to be run in watertight compartments and a public body has to prove that each department is profitable, what becomes of the trams, the parks, the recreation grounds, and even the sewers? There is no profit out of sewers except rats. We in West Ham are hundreds of miles away from the coalfields. We ought to have the dearest electricity supply in the country. But we have one of the cheapest. Why? Because we have developed electricity for the purpose of providing the means of production in the direction of developing industries in our own neighbourhood. And we have succeeded. If the manufacturer has to pay a little more at the end of the year because of the loss that may have been caused by the development of electricity, he has gained more by the fact. that he has obtained cheap power for the production of his goods. The manufacturers have opposed an increase in the charges for electricity. We on the West Ham Town Council have tried to increase the charges for electricity in order to bring the undertaking up to a profitable level, but the manufacturers have unanimously opposed us. They believe in cheap electricity.