18 FEBRUARY 1949, Page 18

THE PRESS IN THE NORTH EAST

SIR,—Mr. Frank Staniforth is right in saying that your article, Amber Light, has received considerable attention in the northern Press, which rightly recognises that the tentative proposals of the Transport Commis- sion may be very far-reaching in their results. Interestingly enough, the national Press began to make enquiries on the whole issue after your article appeared.

If I am rightly informed, the Transport Commission's proposal is that one municipal undertaking should be taken over by them for £450,000, although its book value with the Authority is £2,500,000. This is, of course, bare-faced expropriation, particularly so when there is no guarantee that fares will not be advanced as a result of the transfer. The object of the project (if nationalised) is quite certainly to bring in line the bus and tram services with the railways, the inevitable result being an increase in fares to cover up the nationalised railway losses. Our citizens through- out the country should exercise vigilance in further developments if they want to escape an increase in fares as a result.—I am, yours faithfully,