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A COLOSSAL TRANSPORT CONCEPTION.

6th March 1919, Page 2
6th March 1919
Page 2
Page 3
Page 2, 6th March 1919 — A COLOSSAL TRANSPORT CONCEPTION.
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

THE TIME for strong and concerted action has arriVed, and it is gratifying to know that the Parliamentary Road Transport Committee, f oi riled •by Mr. Joynson-Hicks, M.P:, to safeguard motor and road interests in Parliament, now numbers 296 members, many of whom will take part in the debates on the new Bill to establish a Ministry of --Ways and Communications, thus aiming to convince the Government that the inclusion of the control of the roads, in a measure which confers such wide and comprehensive powers on one department, is a vast The dutyof the new Minister is to take steps to e22

improve the means of, and the facilities for, locomotion and transport obtaining his powers under Orders in C.ouncil, which will transfer to him all powers and duties of any Government Department in relation to (a) railways, (b) light railways, (c) tramways, (d) canals, waterways and inland navigations (e) roads, bridges and ferries and vehicles and traffic thereon (f) harbours, docks and piers and (g) the supply of electricity. A careful scrutiny of the Bill shows that, by far, the largest amount of thought has been directed to the acquisition or control of ,underakings such as would come under the headings a, b, c, d and ec, although

probably the possession of a 1:1.ib1ic service or omnibus undertaking would be equally liable to be taken. There is no provision for power, to be given to the Minister to acquire, for example, the motor transport vehicles of private and public concerns, but the last of a series of clauses, which set out the things which the Minister may be authorized to do -by Order in Conned, specifies the establishment, maintenance and -working of transport services by land or water which is probably sufficiently comprehensive for all practical purposes.

The. evil of the Bill, as has frequently of late been pointed out in these columns, is the linking up of the roads and the vehicles thereon with the control of railways, light railways, tramways, waterways, harbours and docks. The coming of 'the motor vehicle has, as the Home Secretary said when intreducing the Bill, made the roads eSsentially a, national question. True, it is no longer a lodal question. The roads can be better maintained, improved and rendered fit to carry the new fast transport services hy a central department. The 2,000 local authorities should be relieved of the responsibility and the charge. The day has • come when the tradesman in London delivers goods in Luton ; when the man living in Birmingham is, .at week ends; found driving his car in and about

Bournemouth, so that road upkeep for local needs at lama expense has vanished with the removal of the limitation -set by the capacity ot the horse. All this is true and without question ; but is it likely that a' Ministty controlled by railway men would wi'sh to assist a method of transport that has afisen in the past two decades to compete with railways? Are they likely to do. anything that will encourage the competition, for instance, of buses and tramways with the railways of London—many of the suburban stations of which are already closed under the stress of that competition? When money is found _to be revised ler transport undertakings and developments in all pArts of the country, are roads likely to receive their fair share Of course not roads will be the Cinderella of the new Ministerial household.

Fortunately, there is a 'Via media. A, Ministry of Roads—based on a revived Road Board extended (as suggested by Mr. Joynson-Hicks) to provide for representation thereon of the associations of local 'highway authorities—entirely separated from the Ministry of Railways and other Ways and Communications, would be the most suitable body for the construction and maintenance of satisfactory public roads and for the development of the traffic thereon. For the formation of such a Ministry we must now strive.


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