Prefatory Note ix 



arterial roads across London for the accommodation of the 

 increasing traffic, and of still another scheme, put forward by 

 a Departmental Committee of the General Post Office, for 

 relieving the streets of London of a good deal of mail-van traffic 

 by the construction of an underground electric railway, 6 J miles 

 in length, and costing ^5 13,000, across the centre of London 

 from east to west, for the conveyance of Post Office matter, 

 the Report further suggesting that this particular system might 

 be found equally applicable to other forms of enterprise which 

 require the use of carts for the frequent conveyance of goods 

 in small consignments between fixed points. 



(4) The passing by the House of Commons, on November 

 22, of a resolution expressing the opinion that a meeting 

 should take place between the parties on whose behalf the 

 Railway Agreement of August 19, 1911, was signed (see 

 p. 448), "to discuss the best mode of giving effect to the 

 Report of the Royal Commission " ; the acceptance by such 

 parties of Board of Trade invitations to a conference, in 

 accordance with the terms of this resolution, and the holding 

 of a conference which began, at the offices of the Board of 

 Trade, on December 7, under the presidency of Sir George 

 Askwith, Chief Industrial Commissioner, and resulted, on 

 December 1 1 , in a settlement being effected. 



(5) The prospective increase, from January i, 1912, of 

 certain season, excursion, week-end or other special-occasion 

 fares (many of which now work out at a rate of a halfpenny 

 or a farthing, or even less than a farthing, per mile) as a means 

 of assisting the railway companies to meet advances in wages, 

 such increases in passenger fares (distinct from any increases 

 in merchandise rates, for a like reason, as foreshadowed by 

 the Government undertaking of August 19, 1911, alluded to 

 on pp. 448 and 511) being already in the option of the com- 

 panies, provided the latter do not exceed the powers conferred 

 on them by their Acts, and subject to the condition that on 

 fares of over a penny the mile Government duty must be paid. 



