Part of Orders of the Day — Revenue Departments. – in the House of Commons am ar 25 Chwefror 1924.
So far as I can judge from the right hon. Gentleman's speech, he is really in favour of these tunnels. It strikes me that he is anxious to continue building more tunnels, because he has never answered any question by the right hon. Member for Cambridge University (Mr. Rawlinson) whether he proposes to proceed with other tunnels. If this tunnel be so useful for the purpose for which it is used—we have not found out what that is yet—why cannot he extend it all over London so that every main railway station is connected up with this wonderful system of underground railways? This is a legacy which has been left to him. He has seen it as an excellent idea of State control of railways, and he is very anxious to run this one to show how well the State can run railways. He says that the railway is not yet equipped with its electrical appliances, and that it is not working. Why is it so long in being equipped? Can it not be speeded up now, seeing the vast amount of unemployment there is in the country, and the amount of slackness of trade in the engineering, the iron, and electrical trades? That is surely up to him. I should like some assurance from him that he is going to complete this railway at the earliest possible moment, so as to find work for these men. Will he let the Committee know whether it is the intention to continue these railways, or is he just going to finish this one, and then give up the idea of running these underground electrical railways?