Danger to Export Drive By Harold Goodwin,
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. Secretary and Manager of Blythe and . Berwick (1928), Ltd., j Webster (Brad
foul); Ltd., and T. G. Best and Co., Ltd., . and Chairman of Bradford Sub-area of the Road Haulage Association.
LTHO UGH it indicates clearly " enough' the Government's intention to impose nationalization of inland transport, in face of opposition from both the operators of all the forms of transport involved and from industrialists and traders generally, the Bill leaves much to be clarified. It is vague in its detail as to the proposed set-up of nationalized road haulage.
What provision, for instance, will there be for dealing with very urgent traffic? Hauliers in the Yorkshire wool textile area, for example, often receive telephonic instructions from cloth exporters to collect goods and deliver them at Liverpool or some other port for shipment the next day. How are such speedy facilities going to be provided when nationalization comes into operation? Or will they be provided at all?
They will be impossible under a form-filling, red-tape system. By the time such a cumbersome procedure has been gone through, the exporter wilt have literally missed the boat. Unless there is some arrangement whereby the exporter can obtain transport quickly, the consequences will be serious. The gravity of this danger to the export drive cannotbe over-emphasized, as it threatens our national economy.
Another delay danger arises in connection with the transport of such perishables as fruit and vegetables. One encouraging point is that the Minister of Transport has already promised to make concessions to C-licence holders whose vehicles are employed in the carriage of such traffic.