* * * * The Future of the Railways In
his speech at the annual general meeting of the L.M.S. Sir Josiah Stamp claimed that the railways are abandoning the conservative traditions of the past, and the big savings in expenditure effected by his own com- pany have been accompanied by remarkable improve- ments in services. With regard to the future, he had much to say on the subject of outside competi- tion. Legislation on the lines of the Salter Report would remove the unfairness of the present relations between road and rail but does not solve the whole problem, which depends in the last, resort on the elimination of cut-throat competition and its replacement by sane co-ordination. Sir Josiah alluded to the " unique experiment in true co-ordination," through the pooling of receipts, afforded by the setting up ..of the London Passenger Transport Authority. Throughout the whole suburban area rail, tube, omnibus and tram should henceforward be working in harmony. What London can do to-day the country as a whole could and should (with some modification) do to-morrow.
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