"The Lost World"
Page 52
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NOBODY so far has written the novel that ought to be written about road haulage, and, if the state planners have their way, it may soon be too late. There is material for a score of stories depicting the characteristics, and often the foibles, of the individualists who started in business after the 1914-18 war, and gradually made their mark in tho area covered by their services. Little use has been made of this theme, and it is odd that the nearest approach to what I have in mind is perhaps to be found in Mr. C. S; Dunbar's book on "Goods 'Vehicle Operation," which makes no pretence at being a novel. (Mr. Dunbar is well known as a special correspondent of "The Commercial Motor.) For the purposes of his exposition on such matters as licensing, record forms, branches, depots, sub-contracting, and the various other problems with which transport operators and students are faced, Mr. Dunbar has invented a man named Overall, a 1914-18 veteran, and owner of a haulage business. Overall has a daughter, referred to by Mr. Dunbar as'" Miss Lily," and a son Bill, who fought in the recent war, and left the Army with a commission. Miss Lily does the office work, and Bill, relief driver and odd-job-man before the war, has C0111C out of the Services with ideas of his own.
Here might almost be the beginning of the sort of novel where the father-tyrant rules with a rod of iron his repressed, embittered daughter and thwarted son; or the story might develop into a romance with weddinghells at the end. Mr. Dunbar is not concerned with such things. His characters art severely functional.
Strangely, however, as the book proceeds, the characters seem to come to life, They are, one feels, people it would be nice to know; in fact, one already knows them. The pattern of the Overall family, working as a team, playing its part in the economic development of the district, is familiar, it can be paralleled in hundreds, perhaps thousands, of cases.
Probable Acquisition It is a pattern in danger of fading before many years have passed. The Overall business has always been largely concerned with traffic from a great port 52 miles from the operating centre, and has lately extended its activities to places 100 miles or more in the opposite direction. The undertaking will almost certainly be acquired, or will find difficulty in obtaining an original permit to carry on exactly as before.
This has obviously beenMr. Dunbar's most difficult problem in writing the book. To superimpose the complications arising from the Transport Act would blur the picture he has tried to present. He has been wise, therefore, in ignoring the 'Act, and his account of the methods to be employed in building up a successful road haulage business has thus gained in clarity. No student, or, for that matter, operator, of transport should ignore Mr. Dunbar's book, written for the most part iri.simple language to illustrate principles that, by and large, must be followed, no matter who .owns or controls the
country's transport. .
Nevertheless, the reader cannot altogether forget the Transport Act. His perusal of the book must bring to mind, perhaps nostalgically, the days that are no more. Even. if the next General; Election brings back a Con: servative Government, the bug-distance haulier. of the type exemplified by Overall is in danger of disappearing.
" And when he falls, he falls like Lucifer, never to rise again "—at least, never to be the same person again. The job makes the man, and the operators who have accepted posts with the R.H.E. are different people from what they were, as their erstwhile colleagues are sometimes surprised to discover. The novels that might be written about Overall and his like will soon have to be based on historical records rather than personal observation.
There is an ironical significance ia the fact that the foreword to Mr. Dunbar's book has been written by • Mr. C. Barrington, who, with the other members of the RILE, is engaged in altering a good deal of the outline of Mr. Dunbar's picture. Mr. Barrington, however, . allows no hint of irony to app::_ar in his foreword, unless it is contained in his statement that Mr. Dunbar's approach is "more scientific than commercial." Mr. Barrington (I hope) understands what this means; I must confess that I do not. The description May fit one of the amusing creations of Heath Robinson, but its application to "Goods Vehicle Operation" baffles me completely.
Inferences and Conceptions Although Mr. Dunbar says little about nationalization; there is much that Can. be inferred from the principles he lays down.For example, .heestates that " If the business is an established one and providing that there is no ti-ade slump and that manufaCtures and co-inmerce are tending to increase; then the business should show a steady growth in turnover and volume of traffic handled without much effort on the part of its owners; in other words, as the firm's customers increase their business so should their demand for transport grow." This conception of a natural, unsought development occurs in a chapter on " Planning a New Service," in which the Overall dynasty, by its own exertions, not only widens the range of its activities, but opens up new markets for its customer.
This dynamic conception of hauliers as pioneers, playing a creative part in local trade and industry, is one that used to be familiar.. It is found even in official reports, such as those of the Royal Commissions on Transport and on the Location of Industry.
It may be the good intention of the B.T.C. to main. tain the pioneer spirit, but one must question whether it can be done effectively by what isvirtually a state monopoly. By way of comparison with the older idea of transport, here is what another state corporation, the Coal Board, has to say in its report and accounts for 1948; By charging less to consumers near coalfields, and more to consumers farther afield (so as to reflect transport charges), the Board will hope to influence them to reduce to a minimum the demands they make on the country's transport system. Firms which consume much coal will then have an incentive to find new Works near the coalfields—and in particular near low, cost coalfields.
In other words, transport is no longer the servant, but has become the master.
[Although only recently published, Mr. Dunbar's book was
written about 18 months ago. That fact should be remem
bered by readers. '' Goods VehicM :Operation " is ' published by Iliffe and Sons, Ltd., at 10s. 6(1'1