ROAD TRANSPORT MATTERS IN PARLIAMENT
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The Conditions for Licensing London's Taxicabs. The Committee of Inquiry Into Tetra-ethyl of Lead. Concerning the Bridges Bill.
By Our Special Parliamentary Correspondent.
THE Home Secretary announced in the House of Commons that he had given very careful consideration to the report of the Departmental Committee which inquired into the conditions of licensing taximeter cabs and had consulted the Minister of Transport and the Commissioner of Police thereon. He had decided to give effect to the report so far as it related to the display of advertisements inside taxis and to a reduction in the height of the chassis, but not in regard to the turning radius; as he was satisfied—and on this point his advisers entirely agreed—that in the present condition of London traffic any alteration in this direction would be a cause of further congestion. He had arranged with the Commissioner of Police for the examination test for taxi-drivers to be made less severe as, owing to the growth of London, full topographical knowledge of the whole of the outskirts was almost impossible.
In reply to questions, the Home Secretary added the following information. Regulations will be laid down as to the type of advertisements and their position. The committee and the technical advisers of the Home Office have gone carefully into the reduction a the 10-in, clearance to a 7-in. clearance and the increase in the liability of a person knocked down to serious injury thereby, and they agree that the difference will not materially, or in effect . at all, increase the liability to accident. The alteration is to be made in regard to future cabs.
It is proposed to insist upon as good a topographical knowledge of the inner area of London as before. The number of taximeters showing the revised fares and now fitted to taxicabs in the London area is 2,734.
Use of Lead Tetra-ethyl.
IN the House of Lords on March 20th Lord Buckmaster once again raised the question of the use of lead tetra-ethyl in motor spirit. He asked the Governmeat what was the constitution of the cominittee set up to inquire into the matter, why the committee was not sitting in public, and when the report was anticipated. He also moved that serious warning should at once be issued by the Ministry of Health as to the possibility of danger from the use of lead tetra-ethyl in motor spirit. Lord Buckmaster complained that though tetra-ethyl spirit had been in use for a considerable time no form of warning had been issued to any person compelled by his occupation to use it. Since the last discussion he had received a letter from an M.D. of London University, who had the diploma of the Society of Health at Cambridge, saying that on examining parts of a car which had-been run some 3,000 miles on ethyl petrol he found that the deposits contained over 50 per cent. of soluble lead. After discussing the grave results of poisoning from tetra-ethyl Lord Buckmaster mentioned that Switzerland had forbidden the use or sale of the Spirit. He maintained that there was a primafade case against the use of it, and therefore the Government ought to take steps to warn people.
The Committee of Inquiry. VTISCOUNT GAGE, on behalf of the Government, V announced the constitution of the committee which had been set up to inquire into the subject. He said the chairman was Sir Frederick Wallace, chairman of the Board of Control, the other members being :—Ministry of Health,Sir George
Buchanan; Home Office, Dr. Bridge, Senior Medical Inspector of Factories; Air Ministry, Mr. D. R. Pye, Deputy Director of Scientific Research; the Medical Research Council, Sir Charles Martin, Director of the Lister Institute; the Government Chemist, Sir Robert Robertson; the War Office, Major Galwey, Director of Experiments in the Chemical Warfare Department ; and the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, Dr. C. H. Lander, D.Sc., Director of Fuel Research. The nonofficial members were Professor A. C. Chapman, Sir William Wilcox and Professor W. E. Dixon.
Intruding Upon Competitive Industry.
T"Ecommittee was ready to sit immediately and it would be left to them to decide whether evidence would be taken in public.. If the investigations were to be of any value they must be very extensive and prolonged. He reminded the House that, before condemning the action of the Ministry of Health, they should remember that in the whole of the continent of North America, after a similar agitation and after prolonged experiments and observations by the most authoritative examiners, no one during the five years this spirit had been in use had discovered a single case of lead poisoning arising from the use of this substance, although its consumption ran into several million gallons a year. The conditions under vviiich tetra-ethyl was blended with petrol in this country and the conditions of distribution were precisely similar to those prdvailing in America. He reminded the House that, under the Petroleum Bill, power was given to the Minister of Health to make regulations as to the distribution or manufacture of any class of petroleum spirit which appeared to be dangerous or injurious to health. If the Government were to issue a warning as suggested, they would be making a very serious intrusion into the realms of competitive industry which all previous experience proved to be unnecessary, No Necessity. T011D MONTAGU OF BEAULIEU considered 4 that the matter ought to have Veen inquired into before now. There was sufficient evidence to make people who used this petrol very careful in doing so. Tetra-ethyl was not sold in France and garage proprietors there considered it dangerous to people working in the garage. He expressed his own opinion that any of the standard brands of petrol were good enough for any reasonably good car and this particailar substance was not good for the engine. It might be worth while for racing purposes to use it, but for the ordinary careful user of the road he thought there was no necessity to use tetra-ethyl. At any rate, a wise man would abstain from using it until the committee had reported.
After further discussion Lord Buckmaster's motion was rejected by 36 votes to 21.
Government and Bridges Bill.
ALTHOUGH the Government is favourable to the Bridges Bill, there is some doubt as to whether time can be found for the passage of the measure this session. The Minister of Transport was asked the other day about the intentions of the Government, but he could not make any definite statement on the subject of giving special facilities for passing the Bill into law in the present session.