Road Transport Activities
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IN PARLIAMENT
By Our Special Parliamentary Correspondent
Uncertain Position of London Transport Bill.
ryTHE Cabinet had not decided last '.L week what course of action ought to be followed regarding the London Passenger Transport Bill, which was carried over from the previous Parliament, after being passed for the report stage by the Joint Select Committee of both Houses. In the present House of Commons there is a large block of Conservative opinion opposed to any further progress being made with the Bill in its present form.
The main objection is to the system of bureaucratic control by a small board to be appointed by a Government Department. A suggested alternative is that the transport interests concerned should themselves be empowered to set up a body of -trustees outside Government control and, whilst this body would be responsible for general policy, finance and So 'on, the actual working of the various systems of London transport would be the care of an operating board of control appointed by the trustees. _ If the Government decides again to bring forward the Bill this Session without promise of considerable 'amendment, acute controversy -will arise and substantial alterations will be demanded as a condition of the measure being allowed to proceed;
The Road Fund.
Minister of Transport hopes that it may not be necessary after next year to ask Parliament to supplement the ordinary income of the Road Fund. The payments out of the Road Fund from April 1st, 1931, to February 29th, 1932, amounted to £26,432,000 and the Votes have been drawn upon to the extent of approximately £3,000,000.
Employment on the Roads.
IN the discussion on the Civil Service Vote on Account, some interesting references were made to the question of employment in relation to schemes of work upon roads and bridges. Sir A. Steel-Maitland, a former Minister of Labour, spoke of the inadequate and unsuitable character of road-making schemes as a palliative of unemployment.
Mr. Parkinson, the Labour exParliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Transport, said he regarded road schemes as the essence of necessity, as road transport was developing to such a great extent. He wished for information regarding' the position of the Forth road bridge, the Humber road bridge and the Dartford-Purfieet
road ' tunnel. He had been informed that over 1,000 schemes of a total cost of 00,000,000 had been cancelled, curtailed or postponed in Great Britain. In addition, building schemes estimated to cost over £50,000,000 were in a similar position. Together they represented £80,000,000 to £90,000,000, which money could be in circulation and providing work. The Minister of Transport was well aware that there were thousands of miles of roads in this country which were not really fit for the large amount of traffic passing over them, and something ought to be done at the earliest possible moment. He guaranteed that three-quarters of the people unemployed would be able to meet the requirements of road making.
To Husband National Resources.
PYB US said that, whilst In:listening with care and no little sympathy, he could not be expected to do other than carry out the broad policy of the Government, which was to husband our national resources rather than to adopt or continue vast programmes of public work.
The May Committee's proposals for the reduction of public works, which, in the main, the Government accepted, were made not primarily because the works were not worth the money to be expended upon them, but because, in our state of financial stringency, we had not the money with which to carry them out. The anticipation of work could he carried to a dangerous position, which would irrvolve the encouragement of local authorities to pledge their credit farther than they could afford.
Suspended Bridge Works.
WITH regard to the Forth and Humber bridges, and the Dartford tunnel. Mr. Pybus had already intimated that at present the Government was not prepared to go ahead with these works. What it was prepared to do regarding deferred schemes was, so far as possible, to protect the lines of route and to see that any work already effected did not fall into decay. It must be remembered, he said, that capital relief works employed about 4,000 men directly and indirectly for a year for each £1,000,000 of expenditure, and this the country could not afford at the present time.
Mr. R. S. Hudson, Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Labour, declared that experience during 10 years had shown that the possibility of employing men on public relief works was drastically limited by considerations of age, physique, of the difficulty of finding work, of the housing problems of the men brought to fie the work and, above all, of cost.
Over the-past 10 years, the average cost of maintaining a man in benefit had been less than £50 a year, but for that same period it had been proved that the cost of putting a man to work oi,11 public works was at least £500 a year and more. . It was quite clear that, unless the resulting works had, on completion, an economic value of at least 4-5ths of their cost, the nation was the poorer for having carried them out It was true to say that few of those, works which had been carried out would pass that test.
The Opposition to Road Transport.
AGOOD deal is heard in Parliament ust now regarding the position of the railways in respect of road-transport competition and repeated qUestions are being addressed to Ministers by members. For instance, Colonel Crookshank, the other day, suggested legislation to enable the rail services to obtain a fair share of the State grants and aid, which at present " plate the road services in a favourable position in regard to traffic costs." Mr. Baldwin, in his reply, indicated that these Matters could not be raised by question and answer. He promised to convey to the Chancellor of the Exchequer another suggestion by the same member that additional revenue should be obtained• and the situation eased by increasing the taxation on road tre,nsport.
Attention was called by Sir A. Pownall to the position of the railways, and he wished to know What action the Government contemplated to enable the railway companies to meet the competition of heavy road transport. The Minister of Transport said he had the representations of the four main-line railways under consideration, but he could not yet make a statement. Upon being asked whether he would be prepared to receive representations from the heavy roadtransport interests, Mr. Pybus said he hoped that he would succeed in dealing equally with the representations of all interested parties.
TheTaxation of Foreign Vehicles.
IT is stated by the Foreign Office that the intention of the Government is to ratify the International Convention regarding the taxation of foreign_ motor vehicles, and it is hoped to complete the formalities of ratification in a week or so.