ROAD TRANSPORT MATTERS IN PARLIAMENT.
Page 51
Page 52
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
The Raid on the Road Fund. Mr. Churchill's Reply. A Question About Steam Wagon Boilers. Taxicab Fares; Railway Obstruction to a Dumbartonshire Road Scheme.
By Our Special Parliamentary Correspondent.
THE most considerable body of opposition to the Budget proposals was concentrated upon the raid on the Road Fund. On the report of the resolution transferring 02,000,000 to the Exchequer, MT. Snowden moved an amendment, which was afterwards defeated by 234 to 127, limiting the amount to £3,000,000. He • put forward the familiar arguments against this use of taxation imposed for a definite and specific purpose, and remarked that, though it might be said that considerable funds would still be available, the fact was clear that there would be £12,000,000 less for road improvement. Schemes approved by local authorities involved an expenditure of over 1100,000,000, and he believed the amount spent by local authorities on maintenance of the roads was between £40,000,000 and £50,000,000 a year.
He thought the time had come for a complete reclassification of the roads and a change In the incidence of the burden of maintaining them. They would have greater uniformity and improvement and would avoid waste and overlapping if for the 2,000 existing separate authorities they substituted a central authority and local road authorities for much wider areas. An eminent authority, he noticed, had calculated that the
• delay' in carrying out the Victoria Dock scheme was costing in traffic delays £500.000 a year. If they took all the congested streets and roads they got a colossal slim running into hundreas of millions. Mr. Churchill, In the course of Mr. Snowden's speech interjected the remark : "I said we could finance all existing commitments." Mr. Snowden retorted that that meant nothing at all. If he was prepared to finance all existing commitments he had no right to take a single penny, because most of that fund was appropriated to the schemes already approved.
Mr. Ian Macpherson, speaking for the Liberals, pointed out that in two years the Chancellor had raided the Road Fund to the extent of £27,000,000, including the amounts he had taken from the revenue of the road taxation, as well as the £7,000,000 and .£12,000,000 from reserves. His speech was a very useful historical review of the subject and the attitude of successive Chancellors towards the purpose of the Road Fund. He calculated that, If the £27,000,000 had been used on much-needed road works, 80,000 men would have been employed for a long period of time. There were 152,736 road-miles in this country and of the main roads in 16 typical counties only 48 per cent, are equipped to carry modern traffic. Of the remainder, 38 per cent, required reconstruction at an estimated cost of £25,000,000. Of the unclassified roads, only 7 per cent, were equal to the burden of modern traffic, and required at least £10,000,000 for upkeep and reconstruction.
Mr. Churchill Refuses to Give Way.
TrillE Chancellor of the Exchequer, replying on the J_ debate, added very little to what he said a year ago. He said the taking of the £12,000,000 from the Road Fund reserve could only be judged in relation to the general financial scheme. If the money had to be found elsewhere it would have iovolved an addition of 3d. on the income tax or a failure to make effective provision for the horrid rent in the Sinking Fund made by the industrial disasters of last year. The argument about the money belonging to the motorists" government of the motorists by the motorists for the motorists "—was, he claimed, smashed to pieces last year. Whilst everyone was in favour of road development, he pointed out that, in this country, it exceeded that of any other country. We had the best roads and spent the largest proportion of revenue on them. With regard to the £100,000,000 mentioned by Mr. Snowden, he said that if they received £20,000,000 a year they would get the £100,000,000 in five years and £300,000,000 in 15 years. He demurred to the suggestion that £100,000,000 should be spent in two or three years on the roads. ,There must also be some limit to the extra push and thrust which the State and local authorities made. to elevate and develop road transport in competition with the railways.
As to the question of road maintenance in relation to the burden of local rates, he considered that this must be discussed in view of the whole relations of the central Government to local government. They had to consider not only the one item of the Road Fund but the bearing of old age pensions, widows' pensions and a dozen other items on the expenditure of local authorities. Whilst, since 1913, the rates had doubled, the Imperial contributions to local authorities had trebled or quadrupled, and the burden on the Imperial taxpayer had nearly quintupled. He repeated his statement that every undertaking and commitment would be financed and they would make available for the finance of the roads in each year of the present Parliament a larger sum than that available in the present year.
Road Traffic Bill.
QTATEMENTS have been published to the effect that Othe Government's Road Traffic Bill will not be introduced during the present Parliament. In spite of the Minister of Transport's inability to inform the House of Commons when the Bill will be introduced, it is a little too early to say that the present Governmentwill finish its tenure of office without giving effect to its promises to amend the road traffic law. There is, of course, no prospect of the Bill being brought in this session, but if, by accommodation among all parties, some of the snags can be removed from the proposals submitted for discussion in the draft Bill, the Government might be induced to find a place in the programme of next session, which commences in November, for a more or less agreed measure. So long as there is a tendency to neglect the exercise of concerted pressure, so long will the Road Traffic Bill be crowded out in favour of other less urgent measures.
Lighting and Local By-laws.
ONE of the members for Dundee, Mr. Scrynageour, is concerned over the lighting provisions of the draft Road Traffic Bill, because Dundee has a by-law under which certain horse-drawn vehicles at walking pace only require to carry one light, on account of the dangerous nature of their loads. He wanted an assurance that any Order to be issued would stipulate that only one lamp should be carried in the case of vehicles as defined by the local by-law. Colonel Ashley informed Mr. Scrymgeour that the Bill provided for modifications of the general requirements in the case of vehicles carrying inflammable or explosive goods and vehicles drawn by horses or other animals. He could not give an assurance is to the terms of any Order that might be issued after the draft Bill became law. The Minister, however, will not be lacking in advice upon the provisions of his Order_if we may judge of the activity of the various road interests concerned! Grants for Unclassified Roads.
TITE sum of £1,400,000, the same amount as last year, has been made available for grants from the Road Fund during the current financial year towards the maintenance of unclassified rural roads. Assistance will be at the rate of 20 per cent. of the approved expenditure to be incurred on the selected roads.
Burst Boilers on Road Vehicles.
FIGURES having been asked for regarding cases of accident caused by the bursting of boilers on road vehicles propelled by steam durins. 1926, the Minister of Transport stated that no comprehensive figures were compiled by his Department, but eases-of burst boilers were reported to the Mercantile Marine Department of the Board of Trade: He was informed that one accident occurred in 1926, due to the boiler of a road vehicle bursting. One accident occurred from the same. cause in 1924, but none in 1925.
Taxicab Fares.
THE Home Secretary, interrogated as to whether it would be open to owners of two-seater taxicabs to charge lower fares than the maximum fares in the new Order, said the new scale applied to all motor taxicabs, whether licensed to carry two or four persons. It was open to any driver to make a special bargain with a customer to carry him at half-fare if he liked to do so, but every taxicab must have its taximeter. He denied the suggestion by Lieut.-Commander Keuworthy that he had come to an understanding with the taxicab drivers, when the reduced scale of charges was agreed upon, that the two-seater cabs would not be encouraged or licensed. There was no bargain of any kind. Mr. March expressed doubt as to whether a taxicab driver could make a special bargain with his employer's cab, and the Home Secretary said there were a great many taxicab drivers who owned their cabs and it was open to them to make special bargains if they liked.
Untaxed Pneumatic Tyres.
A SUGGESTION having been made by a Conserva LI member, Mr. Couper, that, in view of foreign competition, pneumatic tyres other than those of motorcars and cycles should be brought within the McKenna import duties, the Chancellor of the Exchequer returned a negative reply. He pointed out that the repeal of the exemption in respect of mofor tyres merely represented the logical completion of the McKenna duty on motorcars, motorcycles, their parts and accessories, and he was not prepared to propose an extension to other tyres. Mr. Womersley remarked that large quantities of very inferior quality cycle tyres were being imported from Continental countries at a very low price and were undercutting the better quality of British tyres. Mr. Churchill replied that they must rely on the better quality British tyres to assert their inherent superiority.
Great Through Highway Held Up.
A°CORDING to the Minister of Transport it is estimated.mated that the expenditure to date on the construction of the Anniesland-Duntocher boulevard (near. Glasgow) is upwards of 1375,000. This road is not yet available as a through highway because of the failure of the authorities to connect the necessary link over the canal at Drumchapel, Dumbartonshire. • Colonel Ashley stated that he had no power to compel the canal company and the local authorities to come to an agreement. Before public money was spent they naturally assumed that agreement would be reached, and he thought it would be reached. He regarded the delay as deplorable. Lieut-Colonel Thom asked how long it was since the two parts of the road were completed and how bang the two parties had been negotiating about the construction of a bridge. Colonel Ashley asked for notice.
1326 Later, he stated that the scheme was approved in 1923, and -prior to this discussion had taken place regarding the construction of the bridge over the canal, although no agreement had been reached as to the liability for construction and maintenance. The greater part of the road was now coustrueted, and the delay in the construction of the bridge was due to the difficulties which had arisen in the course of negotiations between the Glasgow Corporation and the London, Midland and Scottish Railway Co.
Freeing of Toll Bridges.
AVERY insistent demand is arising among Members of Parliament for the freeing of toll bridges and gates. Sir C. Wilson drew the attention of the Minister of Transport to the fact that the bridge over the River Ouse at Selby and the bridges over the River Derwent at Bubwith and Loftsome were the three last toll-paying bridges in Yorkshire, and were a serious burden on local farmers and others, including thousands of West Riding people going to Filey, Bridlington, Hornsea and Withernsea on the East Coast for health reasons. Colonel Ashley said he was prepared to consider any application which might be formulated . by the responsible lochl authorities for assistance from the Road Fund for the freeing of the bridges in question. In the Budget debates, Major Carver, member for Howdenshire, also referred to the wooden toll bridge at Selby as the only bridge leading to his constituency, which was bounded by water from Hull to York. He said that before the rickety wooden bridge was reached two other toll bridges had to be crossed. Some of the money now being taken by the Treasury might have been used for abolishing those tolls, which were a great grievance in the East Riding. He also considered that something might be done to get rid of level crossings in Hull.
Menai Bridge Tolls.
T" accounts of the Menai Bridge Fund for the year to March 31st, 1927, are officially given as follow, some of the figures being provisional :-
Cost of collecting tolls ... £1,168 Net amount of tolls received after deducting cost of collection ...
Cost of maintenance of the bridge (estimated) 11,425 Net revenue after deducting cost of super
vision and other expenditure (estimated) £8,975 For the year ended March 31st, 1926, the accounts showed a deficit of £854. It is explained that during 1925-26 and previous years the tolls were leased for a rent of £4,559, and that on March 31st, 1926, the lease terminated, and the tolls have since been collected by the Department direct. In view of the age and nature of the structure, the surplus revenue is, with the approval of the Treasury, being retained as a special contingency and renewal fund.
Tests for Drunkenness.
IT is to be feared that the well-meant efforts of the British Medical Association in appointing a representative committee to consider and report on the question of tests of drunkenness will not lead far in the direction of definite uniformity of practice in police stations and courts. Without some sort of official recognition of the recommendations of this outside committee, the present more or less unscientific system will continue, and the Home Secretary intimates that there is no question of the Home Office adopting the tests suggested. It is for the courts, he says, to decide on what evidence they will or will not convict of drunkenness.