No R.H.A. Backing for Defiance
Page 39
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WHILST the Road Haulage AssociaW tion was sympathetic to the state of mind which prompted a defiant unconstitutional resolution passed at a meeting of haulier at Birmingham on November 2, it could not officially support the resolution, declared Mr. R. N. Ingram, chairman of the West Midland Area of the R.H.A. last week. He was speaking at the annual dinner of the Birrhingham Sub-area.
At subsequent meetings in Coventry. Stoke-on-Trent, Wolverhampton and Worcester, he said, it had been necessary to restrain members from passing similar resolutions.
Referring to the predicament of the small haulier, he said that if the haulier applied for total or partial acquisition. he did so without knowing the amount of compensation payable, and he could not reconsider his decision if the compensation were inadequate. If he refused acquisition, the renewal-of his licences would be opposed by the Road Haulage Executive.
"We are convinced that whateS.er compensation is offered will bear no relation to what the man is losing." Mr. Ingram added.
The Government statement that competition with free enterprise would be welcome, was not in accord with the steps taken to deprive the small man of his business. If the 'Government were sincere, there would be no opposition to the Transport (Amendment) Bill in the House of Lords.
FALLACY OF LOW MAINTENANCE COSTS AAINTENANCE and assessment of iVloperating efficiency were discussed by Mr. C. Courtney Cramp, secretary of the Industrial Transport Association, in a paper which he read at the meeting of Merseyside branch.
"There are some who rashly adopt the view that if they keep their maintenance costs down to the bare bone, they have achieved effective maintenance," he said. That is sheer fallacy and inevitably ends in repercussions that affect capital expenditure, apart from breakdowns in operative efficiency and service that will be more costly than any misjudged saving that may have been effected.