Accrington on Rails - The Tramways: A Complete History - Robert Kenyon

satisfactorily and well. In this we hope to make a reasonable profit by doing so. We are not taking anything away from local authorities or districts, incoming to Accrington to make these proposals. We are however, prepared to make formal proposals if you would give us some indication as to what you are likely to decide upon in this matter. We shall not fail to do everything that lies within our powers to carry out the wishes of your Corporation, and they will in their turn make a large view of what are the requirements of the districts in the way of transportation services, so that we can work together with a view to solving what are otherwise extremely difficult problems.” The Chairman stated on behalf of the Committee, that they were prepared to consider what was best for the town and surrounding districts, but were not prepared to commit themselves to anything. Whilst there were many points upon which he personally agreed with the speaker, the Committee needed to know something more definite. He then inquired of Mr Garcke in what places the BET Company were already established. He replied “That we have already established and set up a very large number of undertakings of this character,” and read out a list of these. He also added that “We are an ‘investing’ Company whose capital was over one million pounds sterling subscribed. That there was not one tramway undertaking with which they had not entered into negotiations and with these a majority had come to an arrangement with them.” He added, “I can take you to any part of the country and show tramways which were operating only in the name of the ‘local’ company. Their capital was £950,000 paid but as a large proportion was issued at a premium, the amount as a matter of fact was one million pounds paid up. Our agreement with Accrington Corporation was that we, the BET Company, should carry out negotiations with the local authorities, and if arrangements could be made with this local authority, and the current shareholders did not feel inclined to take the risks involved in enlarging the undertaking as they proposed to do, then they were bound to buy them out or convert the present shares into preference shares. We, BET would then be shouldering all the risks.” The Chairman stated, “So long as I can make out nearly the whole of the dividend has come out of Accrington, or a greater share of it!” Alderman Kenyon replied, “Not all of it, but a fair share.” The Chairman continued, “Can you give us more particulars of the arrangements you propose to make? Can you give us any idea as to the rates the power will be, and you also suggest a Lease of 21 years?” Mr Garcke replied, “First of all with regard to the additional capital your Corporation would expend from the rates or otherwise, we should have to reimburse your Corporation. Of course that depends very much on the monies expended, but this is a matter of detail. We are quite prepared to go into this, but the principle by which we approach this matter would be at once agreed. That if the Corporation has to spend more money the rent would have to be increased, or some other quid pro quo given for cash that has to be spent. That is a matter of figures and I am quite willing to work it out, but this is a matter which requires more careful consideration. Then again as regards power, that too would largely depend upon the number of years we would be able to operate in the district. The terms we have made with other corporations vary from 1 penny to 1 penny per Board of Trade unit. When you are selling electricity for lighting purposes you probably will get 5d or 6d per unit. But when you sell electricity for the purpose of power you do not get anything like that price and the reason is this. That electricity for the purposes of power would be required on an average of about 15 or 16 hours per day, and this current would be being used for the whole of that time, whereas, for electric lighting the average consumption does not extend above 3 hours per day. The price depends not only on the quantity consumed, but also on the length of time. The arrangement we have with Ashton Corporation Tramway is, we buy the current from the Corporation there to operate our tramway, and we pay them a maximum of 1 penny per unit, with a sliding scale downwards reducing to 1 penny per unit in the event of a certain quantity being consumed. We would be willing to make a similar arrangement here.”

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