Passing Comments
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Where Petrol Flows WHILST many a haulier who almost as Freely as Y is doing work of vital Water importance has to struggle along on a niggardly ration, some Government contractors seem able to pour out petrol like water. We have heard of a case where a one-ton lorry is sent daily a distance of 14 miles to collect one workman (who is not a specialist)• engaged upon a road-clearance job.
Transport the Vital I N his paper', " The Social Factor In Colonial and Economic Development Development . . of the British Colonial Empire,' read before the Royal Society of Arts by Sir William H. McLean, K.B.E., he refers to the importance of transport and communications. Public works in this connection are, as a rule, the most important, at least from the financial viewpoint, that Colonial Governments are called upon to provide, and their neglect has sometimes resulted in financial disaster. Some Empire countries provide striking examples of how lack of
planning has resulted in defective developments, such as uselessly competing railways; main roads running parallel with instead of being more or less at right angles to railways, thus competing with them instead of co-operating as feeders. The producer must be able to transport his economic or cash crop at a cost which will permit him to compete in his market. Water transport is the cheapest form, but for long hauls the railway and for shorter hauls the motor vehicle, are usually the most economic forms.
Fuel for the Fighting INSTANCES of fuel for use by Services Which ,Goes 'the Services going astray are Astray occurring. Recently two men
were each sentenced to six months' hard labour for receiving War Office petrol. Not long ago, while chatting with some soldiers, one said he sympathized with civilians who could not get enough fuel, and remarked that if we had been anywhere in his area we could easily have obtained some. This is only one more indication of the need for stricter control in such matters.