asked the Minister of Transport what progress is being made in the taking over of goods road transport undertakings by the Transport Commission.

The negotiations for the acquisition of road haulage undertakings by voluntary agreement are now practically concluded and the Commission inform me that the position at 1st June, 1949, was that 359 undertakings with about 15,000 vehicles had been thus acquired. The process of compulsory acquisition is well in train and approximately 1,300 notices have been served. At the 1st June, 346 undertakings with some 6,500 vehicles had been compulsorily acquired.

asked the Minister of Transport what progress has been made in the taking over of passenger road transport undertakings by the Transport Commission.

The British Transport Commission have now acquired the Tilling and Scottish Motor Traction groups of omnibus companies, in which they had previously a large investment interest. Apart from this, the Commission have initiated consultations with the local authorities and other interests in the North-East with a view to preparing an Area Scheme for submission to me under Part IV of the Transport Act, 1947.