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the provision of, and if necessary to provide, other houses in place of
those closed at rents suitable to the persons displaced. It is also
provided that in certain circumstances a local authority may be called
upon to house its own employees, so as to relieve pressure upon the
accommodation of any particular neighbourhood.
In order to encourage building of working class houses by private
enterprise, the Bill proposes to increase the facilities for cheap loans
already allowed to such enterprise under the principal Act, so as to enable
it to borrow on the same terms as a local authority.
Moveable Dwellings, (h.l.)
A Bill intituled an Act to provide for the Regulation of Moveable
Dwellings.
Cheap Trains Bill.
A Bill to amend the Law relating to Cheap Trains for the Working
Classes.
The purpose of this Bill is to remove some of the difficulties
experienced in London and other large towns in housing the working
classes, by making provision for an ample service of trains for workmen,
so as to provide a cheaper means of communication between the central
stations and the outer suburbs.
" The Cheap Trains Act of 1883, 46 & 47 Vict. c. 34, by means of
which a bargain was struck between the nation and the railway companies,
requires all companies to provide proper and sufficient workmen's trains
for workmen going to and returning from their work, at such fares and
such times between six p.m. and eight a.m. as may appear to the Board
of Trade to be reasonable."
There has been no general legislation on this subject since 1883,
when the Cheap Trains Act was passed, whereby the passenger duty
was remitted on all fares not exceeding the rate of one penny a mile,
and a reduction from five to two per cent. of the duty on first and second
class fares in certified urban districts, on condition that all railway
companies should provide sufficient workmen's trains for workmen going
to and returning from their work, at such fares and such times between
six p.m. and eight a.m. as may appear to the Board of Trade to be reasonable.
The object of this Bill is to provide for a sufficient service of cheap
trains, and to fix for passengers by all workmen's trains arriving at the
various stations up to eight a.m. a maximum return fare between any
central station and the outer suburbs up to 20 miles. The Royal Commission
on the Housing of the Working Classes strongly urged the need
for cheap workmen's trains to run up to eight o'clock in the morning.