This amount seemed incredibly large and both Sir Laming Worthington-Evans
and Sir Herbert Samuel ridiculed it. Later Mr. J. H. Thomas felt called upon to save Sir Oswald's face by explaining that the figure, though correct, represented a gross amount, and that the Government would not be committed to finding the money but only to providing facilities. The Parliamen- tary correspondent of the Times says, however, that the London and North Eastern Railway's own estimate for the proposed electrification is under £10,000,000 and that this would pay for the electrification of all the suburban services which are worked from Liverpool Street. Sir Oswald Mosley may'have had some more elaborate scheme in mind, but upon this there is no information. Sir Oswald went on to say that the Unemployment Grants Committee might find employment for 150,000 men a year if the 1925 expenditure of £20,000,000 was resumed. Road schemes would cost more than could be found from the Road Fund. He said nothing to clear up the mystery of what inducements the Government contemplate giving to private firms to enter the distressed areas.
