GOVERNMENT INEFFICIENCY. IN CONTROL OF TRANSPORT
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CklARGES 'of extravagance and ‘...,inefficiency by the Government in the running of transport were recently made by a Scottish haulier in an interview with a correspondent of "The Commercial Motor."
He said that while road transport was under Goverpment control, he kept a record of profit and loss for a year. Expenses exceeded revenue by £5,000, and a loss Of over £200, was made on the operation of each lorry.
He declared that after August 16 it would be possible to effect many economies and to improve public service. First, he would reduce empty running by half. Under Government control he had known vehicles to be run empty for as much as 40 per cent. of their mileage.
The haulier. also stated that months after the war had finished, an operator was ordered to send a 6-ion oil-engined lorry to carry valuable wireless machinery, no bigger than a sewing machine, from Scotland to London. He added that, under private control, idle running would be greatly reduced, whereas, during the war, it was common for lorries to wait for two days at the docks for loads. Office work would also be cut by at least 25 per cent.
AMERICAN EDITOR CONDEMNS NATIONALIZATION TN a leader in "The Iron Age," of 1 New York, the Editor, Mr. J. H. Van Deventer, says: " Statism, whatever the form, is a pit that once in cannot be climbed out of again. Wherever you find it, there you will find the bottom level of living standards. It is easy indeed to follow the gradual path from private initiative and private ownership that leads to the pit of statism, but there is no road back.
"By what process could a country that has plunged into this pit of statism climb back to private ownership and initiative? It would be as difficult a problem to solve as that of unscnimb ling an egg and putting it back into the shell in its original form.
"The United Kingdom has as yet dumped only a portion of its enterprise into the pit. By and large it is still a capitalistic country, and some people might be found with sufficient money to buy back the nationalized industries; but once the entire economy has been dumped and there is no private capital left, to form an escape ladder, neither revolution nor resolution can get the people out of it. Any nation that has wisdom will look for a way out of any social experiment if it should fail. The best way to get out of the pit is to keep away from the edge." DEMAND FOR ROYAL COMMISSION
(IN July 31 the Transport Committee %-/ of the Parliamentary Labour Party received a deputation of council members of the National Conference of Road Transport Associations. requesting that a Royal Commission should be set up to examine the transport question before any measure for nationalization was submitted to Parliament. The delegation attended at the House of Commons.
No authoritative, impartial study had been made of Britain's transport for more than 16 years, the deputation submitted, and during that period road and air transport had made great strides.