NOT POSITIVE ENOUGH T HE second edition of "Road Haulage Management
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", by George W. Briggs, has recently been published by Butterworth and Co. (Publishers) Ltd., price 35s., postage Is. 6d. extra. Since publication of the first edition in 1963 alterations have become necessary with the issue of the amended Construction and Use Regulations and other developments.
In the preface to the first edition the author stated that hauliers complained that legislation was so complicated that no one could possibly understand it. Admittedly there is need for such guidance. But having written and produced a book presumably to serve, just such a purpose one would expect the title to indicate that the legal aspects of road haulage were its main preoccupation. Thus, of the total 307 pages, the first 121 pages are devoted to carriers' licensing and the construction and use of vehicles. In contrast, barely a page is devoted to costing—so integral a part of a haulier's livelitibod. Yet more than 12 pages are used in listing the deadwood of statutes repealed and replaced by the Road Traffic Act, 1960.
In the preface to the second edition the author rebuts criticism of the first edition that it concentrated too much on the legal aspect and admits he has continued to set out the legal requirements as fully as he could in this new edition. Obviously an author is entitled to determine the content of his book. . But prospective purchasers are also entitled to expect a technical book title to indicate accurately its contents. In this book the positive approach to management, as it directly concerns the day-to-day operations of vehicles, is heavily subordinated to the negative, albeit necessary, aspect of statutory regulation and control.