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What Other Papers Say About It.

4th September 1913
Page 18
Page 18, 4th September 1913 — What Other Papers Say About It.
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

It is Interesting to Contrast the Varying, Yet Considered, Editorial Opinions Concerning the Work of the House of Commons Committee which Recently Produced the New Report on London Traffic.

A Distinction.

There are essential differences between an independent Traffic Board and a special branch of the bureaucratic Board of Trade.—" The County and City of London Observer."

They Did Their Best.

The apologists of the London General Omnibus Co. have done their best to suggest that no peculiar peril is created in the streets by their vehicles.—" Daily News and Leader."

To Clear Their Hands.

I trust that, if such a law as the committee recommend is passed, the Lundoo County c.'ouireil will absolutely rcfuse to make any by-laws regulating the routes, time-tables, and rolling stock of their trade competitors until they have transferred the tramways to other hands.— Bernard Holland it. "The Times."

Mr. Gerald Bias on the Report.

I cannot make up my mind as to whether the suggestion to subject the motorbuses of the Metropolis to the London County Council—their great traffic rival, with its anachronistic municipal trams, which must be propped up at any cost by the self-styled " Progressives "—is grossly immoral or merely humorous —Gerald Biss in "The Evening Standard."

The L.C.C. Would be Considerate.

The L.C.C. have certainly been unfortunate in their administration of tramways, besides being unfortunate in their champions, but it does not follow that they would do more than is pressingly necessary to restrain the motor omnibus traffic. Tha motor omnibus is the licensed hooligan of the London streets and needs a good deal of repression.— A. F. Sinclair in "The Glasgow Herald."

Never Take No for an Answer.

The unfairness cf such an arrangement is scarcely diminished by the right of appeal, and those who remember the dogged persistency of the London County Council, which would never take no fcr an answer, but beought up time after time their plans for spoiling the Embankment and the Westminster rind Blackfriars Bridges, till they got their way at last, will not envy those who have nothing but an expeneive appeal, indefinitely repeated, to protect them.— " The Contract. Journal."

Judge of its own Case.

The fatal flaw in the report of the Select Committee is the proposal that the London County Council, which is pecuniarily interested in the management of tramways, should be allowed to make by-laws affecting motor omnibuses which might seriously cripple these competitors of the tramway system. It is one of the most interesting developments of modern democratic ideas that a Radical committee of the House of Commons should thus peopose to make a litigant judge in his own case.—" The Spectator."

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In Status Quo Ante.

We venture to predict that much as the London County Council would like a free hand, the Borough Councils will have the best of the argument in the end.—" East London Observer."

Eleven horn Fifteen Leaves Four.

There is every reason for suspecting that the committee's feelings were biassed by the fact that 11 out of its 15 members were or had been either members of the L.C.C. or candidates for election to that body. There is throughout the report evidence of a reverence for municipal control which is very much to be deprecated.—" The Globe.'

Out-of-Date Road Widths.

Streets built for the limited traffic of the 18th century, when the world contentedly jogged along in Sedan chairs, are forced to accommodate high-speed machines in ever-increasing numbers; and such authorities as .exist have almost abandoned in despair the task of pouring, not a quart into a pint pot, but an ocean into a thimble.—" Northern W hi g."

Outside the Terms of Reference.

For seven months the committee revelled in evidence and statistics, and piled up the most elaborate proofs of things that no one doubted. It was not lightly assumed that St. Paul's stands where common report places it ; witnesses were called to prove on oath that it does stand there, and severely crossexamined and their testimony subjected to corroboration. The result is that the committee has finished its report without beginning its work.—" The Practical Engineer."

Doctors Want Fewer Accidents The tramcar driver's work is a much easier task than the omnibus driver's, for the former is relieved from the. responsibility of steering and of keeping engines under control ; he has only to retain his attention fixed on the possibilities of charging some one or something in the

line of his gauge. . . But the in trod uction of the motorbus has brought into light the disabilities of the tram

car . . The present risks to pedestrians in the streets of Lor.don form a matter of medical urgency, and no time shonld be lost in Minimizing them.— " The Lancet."

County Council Obstruction.

'I don't think, either, that it would be a ..vis policy to take away the veto of the borough councils, because there are many things to think of besides the running of trains over a certain route. Directly the trams are laid along a-road the Cennty Council become the masters. For instance, outside the Elephant and Castle is a piece of road which is most dangerous by reason of the camber, and the Southwark Borough Council recognizes-it. but we cannot make any alteration unless we consent to pay the whole cost of the alteration of the tramways." —Chairman of Southwark Borough Council in " South London Press."

It's Not the Speed.

The report on London traffic is out, and is not an illuminating document. . . . It is not the speed of the traffic, but the difference between the speeds that causes people to miscalculate pace and thus get Inn over.—" The World."

An Outspoken Comment.

The omnibus companies have an issued capital of nearly five millions, and their interests should be protected. It array be well that there should be a restriction of omnibus working along tramway routes, but the body imposing the restriction should not be the body ownMg the tramways.—"The Tramway and Railway World."

An Electrical Condemnation.

One has only to watch the disgraceful and dangerous scrambles which take place between 5 and 7 every night at certain of the tramway termini, by those wishing to get home, to appreciate that the L.C.C. is not a desirable body to entrust with the making of by-laws to regulate traffic in general.—" Electrical Review."

"Was there a Minority Report ?

" I think the main idea in the mind of the committee was to prevent the fierce competition."

" Was there any minority report ?"

"No." replied Alderman Thorne, " but. a section of the committee got beaten on a proposal which practically meant municipalizing the motorbuses. It was said that the report in favour of the municipalization had come up too late for proper and adequate discussion if the report and recommendations were to be presented before the House rose that session.

" There is an impression that if any other vehicle carried the same number of passengers as motorbuses they would damage the roads just as much, if not. more. Omit motorbuses by reason of their narrow heels..*---" Stratford Express."

The Penny Fare Will Settle It.

There is one voice which must in the long run outweigh even the cumulative dictum of a joint committee of all these semi-legislative bodies. The man in the street, who may be so tremendously impressed with this sonorous accumulation of officialdom which he reads in his morning paper while waiting at the street corner for a public conveyance, is none the less, though unconsciously, superior to all this accumulation of officialdom. He exercises this power when he steps aboard the public conveyance and pays his penny or twopenny

fare to the conductor. While he has been standing at the street corner he inay have seen -tramcar or motorbus go by. Its destination may have been the place he wants to reach. But whatever it was he let go by it was because he preferred the other system. And his preference for that penny-fare is the inevitable statement of the question of survival of either one system or the other.— " East _Anglian Daily Times."


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