Road Transport Activities
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in PARLIAMENT
By Our Special Parliamentary Correspondent
• The London Passenger Transport Bill.
TJPON the resumption of the sittings of the joint committee of both Houses of Parliament, which is considering the London Passenger Transport Bill, Sir William McLintockwas further cross-examined. Replying to Mr. E. Charteris, counsel for the London County Council, •he expressed the view that any fair settlement would not prejudice the stock and shareholders of the Underground Group. Before the settlement with the Underground Group was reached, there was considerable investigation extending over a year, to satisfy the Minister of Transport that the proposed arrangements were fair and right.
Mr. Charteris asked if witness agreed with the London County Council's view that its tramways undertaking, if dealt with on a commercial basis, would receive a much larger sum than had been suggested as the value of the under taking. Witness said be had never attempted , to work out either for the L.C.C. or any of the other local authorities the basis of tramways terms.
He agreed that in the tramways there Was an asset which was improving, measured by net revenue. From 1925 to 1930 the revenue rose from £316,000 to £847,000. The figures showed that the net balance of revenue, before making allowance for renewal, indicated an improving position up to 1929-30, but 1930-31 showed a definite backward movement.
Tramways Settlement with L.C.C.
UPON-the Committee resuming last Tuesday, counsel for the Government, Mr. Wilfrid Greene, K.C., announced a settlement with the London County Council regarding the terms on which the tramways of that• authority would be taken over by the Traffic Board, conditional upon the consent of Parliament and confirmation by the county council. The terms are as follow :— A special class of stock will be issued to the amount of the net outstanding debt at March 31st; 1932, which, in the case of the Loudon County Council, has been agreed at 18,500,000. The stock will bear interest at the rate of 4i per cent. and will rank immediately after the T.F.A. stock and in front of the B stock. The stock will be a trustee security to be redeemed at par at the end of 90 years or at any time after 1975, at the option of the Board. The council will undertake not to put stock upon the market for a period of 10 years.
Counael said that new clauses would be submitted giving effect to the arrangement and giving the L.C.C. any necessary power to hold and dispose of the stock. Matters in the L.C.C. petition, such as the representation on the
Advisory Committee and the constitution of the Board, were not affected by the settlement and the authority was still open to urge them -upon its peti
tion. With regard -to other local authorities, the. promoters were willing, in the case of local bodies desiring to adopt this method, to agree to the issue of special stock subject to terms similar to those agi•eed to bythe L.C.C.
Mr. E. Charteris, K.C., counsel for the L.C.C., said that the authority would continue strongly to oppose the Bill in respect of the method of appointment and the powers of the new Board, the opposition being limited to these matters not covered by the settlement.
Lorries for Country Sports.
THE following statement has .been made by the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Transport (Mr. Parkinson) :—" The Government has carefully considered the representations which have been received as to the hardships which may be caused by the fact that sub-section (3) of Section 61. of the Road Traffic Act, 1930, does not permit of the use, without charge, of lorries for the conveyance of cricket or football teams, or of passengers on such occasions as workpeople's outings, school treats and camps. "I am afraid it is not practicable to provide special exemption for occasions such as these, and the Government has reached the conclusion that, on the whole, the balance of advantage lies on the side of repealing the sub-sectinn altogether, although this course will legalize the use of lorries for the conveyance of passengers on less desirable occasions and for less worthy purposes than those indicated in the question, so long as no payment is made for the use of the vehicle."
The Minister of Transport hopes to be able to arrange for the intro-duetion in another place, at an early date, of a one-clause Bill providing for the repeal of the sub-section on the understanding that the Bill is to be regarded as noncontroversial.
The Petrol Tax.
THE Finance Bill is being discussed in committee under a strict guillotine closure of motion. Only a half-day was allowed for the clause raising the petrol duty from 4d. to 64. a gallon and amending the licence duties for motorcycles.
In the debate on the petrol tax the plea was put forward for the exclusion of turpentine and white spirit, and this was supported by a number of members. The President of the Board of Trade, .Mr. Graham, said the duty was one which they should all try to avoid ilnposing, but if they were to raise £7,500,000 of revenue it must be conceded that, taking the general scope of the duty mid the fact that the great bulk of it fell upon petrol used in motor vehicles, there was hardly an industrial sphere in which such duty could be imposed with less damage to the national Interests.
Administrative difficulties in the way of a concession were great, and he woe informed that it would be virtually impossible to draw the line at industrial and non-road uses of these imported oils. The amendment was rejected by 196 votes to 141.
Another amendment was then moved to reduce the duty to 5d. a gallon instead of 64. Sir Samuel Chapman defended the higher rate as an assistance to the active movement in Scotland for the abstraction of oil from coal. The interests of the Scottish shale-on industry were advanced by other members as a reason for keeping up the tax on imported petrol.
The amendment having been_ negatived, a further amendment seeking to exclude from the tax light oils used for agricultural purposes was opposed by the Government and defeated I by 251 votes to 209. Clause 1 and Clause 2 were then passed by the Committee.
Ministry of Transport Orders.
MR. E. BROWN was informed that 31 Orders and Regulations have been made under the Road Traffic Act, of which three have been revoked and suspended by subsequent Orders and Regulations. Of the remainder, a number deals with fixing the dates of commencement of different sections of the Act, or other formal matters.
Mr. Morrison states that it is his intention when the Regulations, which are of general interest, have assumed a permanent form, to have them grouped according to the subject matter and made available in a convenient and compact shape. He adds that one of the new Regulations takes the place of 26 Orders and Regulations under earlier Acts, and other Regulations supersede a large number of local by-laws and Orders. The grouping of the regulations will be a great help to owners and users of vehicles in the problems which now trouble them.
Methods of Preventing Skidding.
SIR P. RICHARDSON asked the Minister of Transport if he had any comparative information as to the crossfall or super-elevation of roads at bends and curves, in this country and abroad, and what steps were being taken in Great Britain to prevent skidding owing to lack of super-elevation, or to the use of unsuitable road-surfacing materials under the varying climatic conditions of this counties,.
Mr. Morrison said he had not the comparative information required. The practice of super-elevation was general, but, owing to diversity of conditions, unifoimity was impracticable. The advisability of super-elevation had long been recognized by his Department and a memorandum making recommendations upon the subject was issued to all local authorities in Great Britain in August of last year. ' The use of unsuitable surfacing materials was referred to in a circular dealing with the prevention of skidding, issued in March, 1929, and he had reason to believe that highway authorities were carrying out the recommeodation of his Department on bothsthese matters.