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duty on the fares of all passengers conveyed at a higher rate under
certain conditions. Sufficient workmen's trains for workmen
coming to and from their work, at such fares and at such times
between 6 p.m. and 8 a.m., as appear to the Board of Trade to be
reasonable, were to be made obligatory. If the Board had reason
to believe that a railway company is not complying with these
provisions they may order the company to provide the necessary
accommodation.
The administration of this Act was inquired into by the Royal
Commission on the Housing of the Working Classes, 1885. The
Commission endorsed the opinion of the Select Committee of
the House of Commons on Artizans' Dwellings, 1882, and called
attention to the importance of favouring in every way facilities of
transit between the great centre of industry and the outlying
districts, and especially between the metropolis and its suburbs.
"Owing to economic causes," said the Commissioners, "land in the
"central parts of London is, generally speaking, becoming too
"valuable to be easily made use of as sites for dwellings for the
"working classes, and property of this kind, including areas
"scheduled under these Acts, is being constantly bought up and
"converted to other purposes. Side by side with this movement
"there is a large migration of the working classes to the suburbs,
"where in some places private enterprise is busy erecting tenements
"and providing cheap means of locomotion."
The Commissioners further pointed out that if railways are to be
utilised for the benefit of the poorer wage-earning classes two
conditions must be satisfied: (1) the fares must not exceed the
difference between the rents of their houses in congested districts
and the lower rents of the suburban dwellings; (2) the railway
company must arrange at reduced fares to convey people to and fro
from their work at convenient hours.
The history of the movement in the interests of workmen's trains
in London is clearly set forth in Mr. Stewart's volume,0 and we need
not pursue the matter here.
* The Housing Question in London, 1855-1900, pp. 93-111.