viii History of Inland Transport 



" they had borne in mind the fact that it would be necessary 

 for them before long to undertake larger operations, involving 

 heavier expenditure." 



Still further developments occurring, maturing, or under con- 

 sideration when the text of the present work was already in 

 type include 



(1) A projected alliance between the tube railways and the 

 London General Omnibus Company, following on the con- 

 spicuous success obtained by the latter in substituting motor 

 for horsed vehicles for the 300,000,000 passengers it carries 

 annually. 



(2) The issuing of " Minutes of Evidence taken before the 

 Departmental Committee of the Board of Trade on Railway 

 Agreements and Amalgamations " [Cd. 5927], containing some 

 notable expressions of opinion by railway managers concerning 

 the future of the railway system, together with much important 

 information on the general subject. 



(3) The publication, on December i, of the Fourth Annual 

 Report of the London Traffic Branch of the Board of Trade 

 [Cd. 5972], which deals with various matters already touched 

 upon in my last three chapters, including the effects of im- 

 proved transport facilities on the migration of population from 

 the inner to the outer suburban ring ; the further widening of 

 the motor-transport delivery radius, to the advantage of urban, 

 but to the disadvantage of suburban traders ; the steady sub- 

 stitution of mechanical traction for horse-drawn vehicles of 

 every type the Report predicting, on this point, that " if two- 

 wheeled horse cabs continue to diminish at the rate of the last 

 two years, they will disappear before the end of 1 91 2 " ; the im- 

 probability of further material extensions of the tramway 

 system, and the assumption that "the competition of pro- 

 moters for the privilege of constructing tube railways has come 

 to an end " ; while the Report also discusses the merits of a 

 scheme for the provision, at an estimated cost of between 

 ^20,000,000 and ,30,000,000, of about 120 miles of great 



