ABANDONED RAILWAYS
The Prime Minister declared lait night that the Government has no intention of going past Parliament m exercising the power conferred to sell or lease abandoned railway lines. Even with ' this 'assurance, however, the position is far from satisfactory. The Bill empowers the Government to do more than negotiate. It can sell or lease, and the only undertaking. given is that any agreement will he tabled in the House. The tabling of an agreement does not mean that it. does nbt become effective until Ratified. So far as we can gather from a confused discussion, the express undertaking that Parliament would have this power of ratification was not finally given by the Prime Minister, though he stated in the early stages that nothing would be final without Parliament's sanction. Even an undertaking to go no further than negotiation would not be satisfactory, unless embodied in the Bill, as it would not be binding upon any future Government. The issues raised by the sale or lease proposal are far too important, as we showed yesterday, to be left for settlement in this loose way.
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Bibliographic details
Evening Post, Volume CXV, Issue 58, 10 March 1933, Page 6
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185ABANDONED RAILWAYS Evening Post, Volume CXV, Issue 58, 10 March 1933, Page 6
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