Series 4 > Scottish industrial history

i68
SCOTTISH INDUSTRIAL HISTORY
would urge the relinquishment of all the great schemes of this year,
and the acceptance of the facilities which I understand the Cale¬
donian are ready to give; and the mere fact of their admitting us to
the Wishaw District, would, if the running powers were found
unsuitable, prove the preamble of any Bill we might at a future
period apply for. The Scottish North-Eastern Railway should be
held in property jointly, and this relationship would save us and
the Caledonian from hereafter paying more for the Great North and
Highland Railways than they were actually worth. The agreement
that would follow would practically supersede the English and
Scottish Traffic Agreement; and as the Caledonian are, I under¬
stand, the only Company that holds out against its modifica¬
tion now, they might give way on this, to us, most important
point.
The construction of new lines will fan the flame of competiton
between the two Companies, while an arrangement such as is
indicated would promote the interests of both. The Caledonian
find the North British equally strong with themselves in traffic
powers, and therefore not at all likely to succumb to them as the
Edinburgh and Glasgow did. They, like us, will lose by war, but
gain by peace. A single sentence as to the Forth Bridge. This
Bridge and connecting Railway will cost not less than a million
and a half, and the interest, for a number of years, would hang like a
dead-weight on us. To make this expenditure pay, additional gross
traffic, to the extent of £3,000 a week, would require to flow over
it. Where is this traffic to come from? It is little less than a third of
the whole revenue earned north of Perth.
I beg you will receive this communication in the same spirit in
which I make it, and that you will give it your serious considera¬
tion.
Yours faithfully, J. walker
p.s. - The enclosed statement will, I think, prove that the Cale¬
donian have not paid too high for the s.n.e.r.
Mr. Hodgson replied to Mr. Walker as follows, but as the letter
was marked ‘Private’, Mr. Walker declined to produce it, and a
copy of it was sent to the Committee by Mr. Hodgson: