Furniture Men Take Minister to Task H IGH appreciation of the
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manner in which the transport industry responded to the call during the crisis last September was voiced by the Minister of Transport, when speaking on. Thursday of last week at the autumnal luncheon of the National Association of Furniture Warehousemen and Removers, at which he was the guest of honour.
He was responding to the toast of " His Majesty's -Ministers," proposed by Mr. Arthur Coombe, and replying to .a speech in which appreciation of the honour conferred upon the Association by his (Mr. Burgin's) presence was alloyed with some plain speaking on the hardships under which road transport was compelled to labour,
. Whilst thanking the Minister for the extended periods of licensing, said Mr. Coombe, this gift was spoilt by the increased fees. Moreover, the delays and expense incurred in •connection with the Appeal Tribunal were too great. If a speed of 30 m.p.h. were unsafe for conveying goods in vehicles weighing over 24 tons, how could it he safe for the transport of livestock and human beings? His Association thought MO it not unsafe, and that 30 m.p.h. would be still safer for the 2i-tormers if their chassis and bodies were made a little stronger and a little heavier.
With regard to roads, he appealed for expediting their improvement. "When you look down from your swooping aeroplane," he continued, addressing Mr. Burgin, "observe our vans, being driven with the skill and care for which furniture-removal drivers are renowned_ Our drivers are envied by others, because they are looked after by the industry they serve."
Concluding, he suggested allegorically that the Minister and the Association were both doing good work, the former as he thought it ought to be done, the latter as it should be done.
Declining to discuss specific matters of such a highly controversial nature, Mr. Burgin, in an eloquent speech, said that it was the custom in England to advance step by step, building up on what hail been found safe. So it was with the regulations and the reorganization of transport, which started in 1918 and was still going on.
The membership of the N.A.F.W.R., he believed, was over 800, but many more operators than that held B licences for funiiture removal, who did not qualify for membership. His Ministry, he said, was looking into wages and conditions, and he hoped the industry would put up ideas.
Reverting to Mr. Coombe's grumbles, he exhorted his listeners to think of all the conflicting factors that had to be considered and cd-ordinated, and of tie; unremitting efforts and ceaseless problems and anxieties of those 22 Cabinet Ministers, of whom he was one. " judge not too harshly," he adjured the 150 persons comprising his audience, " and do not believe the things you hear about this country being unprepared. In that respect, the difference between 1914 and 1938 is as chalk to cheese. The Government is alive to the needs of the country and to the needs of your great industry."
Major Long, in proposing the Association, said he fully realized the difficulties of the Ministers of the Crown, and expressed his wholehearted thanks to them for giving "pence in our time." He was confident that this and the other great associations would be of assistance to the Minister of Transport. All organizations would place their services at his disposal.