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ROAD TRANSPORT MATTERS IN PARLIAMENT.

13th December 1927
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Page 43, 13th December 1927 — ROAD TRANSPORT MATTERS IN PARLIAMENT.
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

The Fate of the Ministry of Transport: Passing Stationary Tramcars. Inadequate Canal Bridges. Fuel Research Work.

By Our Special Parliamentary Correspondent.

THERE is still a tantalizing uncertainty about the fate of the Ministry of Transport. The Prime Minister, although questioned often on the subject, has refused to be pinned down to any definite statement on the subject. As many members of Parliament are contemplating a joint memorial on the subject, it would appear that the operation of Mr. Churchill's hasty decision to abolish the department may be indefinitely postponed. I hear that the Overseas Trade Department has been reprieved from the sentence of doom passed by the Chancellor of the Exchequer.

Passing Stationary Tramcars.

ATTENTION having been drawn once again to the numerous accidents caused by vehicles passing stationary tramcars, Colonel Ashley said that, whilst aware that accidents had happened, he did not think that any more effective means for preventing them could be found than the enforcement of the law relating to dangerous driving. Nor, was he satisfied that legislation forbidding the drivers of other vehides to pass ttamears on the near side while passengers were boarding or alighting, apart from its effect in adding to the congestion of traffic, would be desirable in.the interests of public safety. The conferment of such powers on municipal authorities under local Acts had repeatedly been refused 1:q Parliament.

Inadequate Canal Bridges.

TBE obstacle to through heavy traffic presented by the unsuitability of many bridges over canals for carrying anything above the light loads contemplated when the bridges were built has been the subject of several questions 'addressed to the Minister of Transport. Colonel Thom asked why the Minister was preventing certain local omnibus proprietors from taking their omnibuses over the Caledonian Canal bridges on the Fort William-Inverness road and when he intended to undertake the reconstruction of those bridges. Colonel Ashley said it had been found necessary recently to take action to restrict the use of those bridges to Toads which they were capable of carrying with safety. He had the whole matter under consideration.

Questions were also asked with regard to the condition of many canal bridges in the Midlands which are inadequate for modern traffic, and the difficulty local authorities have in initiating comprehensive schemes of rebuilding. Colonel Ashley said he was aware of the inconvenience caused to road users by the weakness of numerous canal bridges in the Midlands and elsewhere. He had received representations from various deputations on the subject and the matter was engaging his close attention. While there would obviously be great difficulty on financial and other grounds in dealing immediately and comprehensively with all weak structures of this kind he was always ready in appropriate cases to give assistance from the Road Fund to highway authorities towards the cost of bringing bridges on important roads up to a modern standard.

Workmen on the Roads.

MR. GRIFFITHS having drawn attention to the danger to which men engaged in road repairing were exposed by the high speeds of motor vehicles and having suggested that a speed limit should be imposed at all places where the road was being repaired, the Minister of Transport observed that if the driver of a motor vehicle disregarded the cautionary signs indicating that road works were in progress and did not proceed at a speed which was safe in the circumstances, he would be liable to' convictionunder the law relating to dangerous driving as laid down in the Motor Car. Act, 1903. He did not think the substitution of a speed limit for the usual cautionary signs was necessary or desirable.

Road Fund Grants in Arrear.

SIR ROBERT HAMILTON has once more raised the question of payment of Road Fund grants to Scottish local authorities now three months in arrear and causing expense for bank overdrafts to meet the cost of the work. The Minister of Transport cannot agree to make the payments in advance and he refers to an explanatory letter sent to the secretary of the Association of County Councils in Scotland in .Tuly last. He also states that every endeavour will be made to give to local authorities the earliest possible indication of the grants to be made in the next financial year in respect of approved works on Class I roads in the Highlands.

Fuel Research Work.

LORD EUSTACE PERCY states that work on the Bergius process for the extraction of oil from coal has continued steadily at the Fuel Research Station and the results have confirmed that large quantities of liquid fuel can be obtained from coal by this process. A beginning has been made in the investigation of the whole question of the action of hydrogen on coal under different conditions and interesting results are being gradually accumulated. There can be no doubt about the interest and importance of the process referred to, but it is no part of the duties of the Board of Education to offer opinions on the purely commercial aspects of the inventions which it investigates.

Tetra-ethyl Lead in Petrol.

THE Home Office has no knowledge of any case of poisoning due to the use of petrol containing tetraethyl lead solution. A statement to this effect by the Home Secretary induced the curious suggestion by Mr. Hardie that, in eases of motorists charged with drunkenness who denied the charge, an analysis should be made of the petrol at the expense of the motorist, as evidence in the case. Sir Wm. Joynson-Hicks said he did not think he had any power to order an analysis of that kind. It was quite clear, unless the hon. mainher had information which he himself had not, that poisoning did not occur.

London Taxicab Fares.

REPLYING to Capt. Garro-Jones, who asked whether 111/the Home Secretary was taking steps to examine the accounts of representative taxicab owners and drivers to ascertain whether the new 6d, rate provided them with a reasonable livelihood, Sir Wm. JoynsonHicks said he was not going to reopen the question unless much more information than *as at present available was placed before him. Steps were being taken with great care indeed to ascertain the facts. Colonel Day remarked that many of the drivers were not able to take out their cabs on account of the heavy repair bills, but the Home Secretary observed that the question of repairs had nothing to do with the matter. Safety-roller Device. Safety-roller Device. rE Home Secretary stated that the recently vented safety-roller device for omnibuses and coramercial vehicles had been inspected by himself and by the Commissioner of Police, and it was proposed to fit it experimentally to a vehicle in daily use. He could not say what was the approximate cost of the device. One had been made experimentally and he could not say whether it was sufficiently good until extended experiments had taken place. On being asked whether he had Parliamentary powers to enforce the use of the device on vehicles, the Home Secretary said he thought that if, in the opinion of the Commissioner of Police, the device was so good as to make it necessary in the public welfare he would be entitled to make it a condition of a licence for a vehicle. He added that the experiment he had seen was made with dummy men and he could not express any further opinion as to its actual use.

Railway Companies and Road Transport, T T 46th MONTAGU, in the House of Lords on the inst., raised the question of the private legislation now being promoted to enable railway companies to use road transport without any restriction and asked what the attitude of the Government was towards such a radical change in the powers of the companies. He pointed out that the companies had over 35,000 vehicles using the roads in connection with their existing railway services, between 3,000 and 4,000 being motor vehicles. Of 18,000,000 paid in rates by the companies only £1,200,000 went in road rates.

Alluding to the various evils alleged against the development of motor traffic, he observed that what was taking place was a natural evolution of transport and nothing that Parliament could do would stop that evolution. He argued that the country had gained by the competition.

With regard to the powers proposed to be given be made a number of suggestions. One was that in the

stipulations laid down by Parliament the railways should be required to separate their road transport accounts from the railway transport accounts and that provision should be made to prevent the profits from the railway business being used to smash existing road transport concerns. He was doubtful as to whether there would be profits on the companies' road transport business at the start, and he felt that salvation of the railways would not come from any one source.

The question he wished answered, however, was— what was the attitude of the Government towards the railway companies' proposals?

The Reply of the Government.

AFTER some discussion, Viscount Peel replied on behalf of the Government. After laying down the proposition that the public interest was the overriding interest, he pointed out that the Government could not he expected at this stage to state what its attitude would be to the Bills, notice of which had only just been given. As yet the Government really knew nothing of them. They would come before Parliament next session and after they had been considered the Government would make a pronouncement in the ordinary course.

He did not think the Government shared Lord Montagu's gloomy view of the railways, in which 1.1,100,000,000 was invested. They would have to watch the effect on rates if there was going to be any considerable diversion of traffic from the railways to the roads, but lie thought it was hardly likely that such a diversion would, in fact, be made. In view of the number of motor vehicles on the roads he thought it was not surprising that the railway companies were now trying to meet that form of competition.

The discussion did not in the circumstanees provide any fresh information. Until the Bills .come before Select Committees for examination, or, if they are opposed, until the second reading, the Government cannot properly state its attitude towards the proposals,


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