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Commons Debate Road Haulage Scheme

12th May 1944, Page 24
12th May 1944
Page 24
Page 24, 12th May 1944 — Commons Debate Road Haulage Scheme
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

Mr. Noel-Baker Hints at Further Measures of Government Control Over Road Transport After the War

pR1TICISIIS of the Government con

trol of road transport formed alarge part of last week's debate on the Ministry of Transport Vote in the House of Commons. Mr. P. J. Noel Baker, • Parliamentary Secretary, M.O.W.T., in his opening speech, covered the whole field of transport under war-time conditions and Governnient control and, after dwelling on the joint work of the railway companies, he said that, above all, his Department had cut out competitive routes, and there were many other great advantages which might be continued after the war.

Sir Amofd Gridley, who is a member of the Select Committee on National expenditure dealt, first, with an allegation -that t14.0 Committee was biased in its report on road haulage. He showed how it was an all-party Committee, and how comprehensive and widespread was the evidence of inefficiency in the operation of the road haulage scheme.

" We had, I think, something like 12 or 14 witnesses, who were actually road operators, and we tried to weigh up their evidence judicially and sift it carefully before we came to our con clusions," he said. • " I do not say for a moment that the Ministry of War Transport is to be condemned, because one department, which had to take on an entirely new task and which met with teething troubles, is capable of improvement in its organization and administration. That is one of the inevitable consequences of a Government department taking over a section of industry which, in. war circumstances, may be absolutely necessary but which does present difficulties " No Real Authority

Sir Joseph Nall said it Was a fact that the unit controllers. were not in a proper positict of authority to manage the business which they were supposed to be managing. " I will give quite -a. short illustration. When they were -running their own businesses as managers responsible for their good. conduct, they would be subject, from time to time, to spates of traffic which were more than they could deal with. Their common practisc was to confer with a neighbour, who might have 'a correspondingly Slack day, and would do some of the work for them.

" One would suppose that, in this scheme, unit controllers should be allowed, at least, their common-sense business freedom to adjust matters betWeefi each other and sub-let or hire each other's vehicles. They can do nothing of the kind. They have to report to the area haulage officers.

" It fakes time to do that, and some of these officers do not even give a decision. When A cannot do the job they do not consult B or el;' they report to the.divisional haulage officer and he sometimes reports back to his • own regional commissioner."

In organizing the scheme a further,

and fundamental mistake the Ministry made, he said, was to ignore the so-called clearing houses. He knew a great many haulage operators who did not like the clearing houses, but one had to face the fact that the clearing houses were the mainstay, of the small man. They knew the small man and his needs and his capacity and they were more closely in touch with the general pooling system of traffic than almost anybody else in the industry. • Yet the clearing houses had been deliberately excluded. from this scheme, • and the Ministry was wrongly advised in leaving them out.

Mr.. Noel-Baker said that Sir Joseph Nall would realize that there was no unanimous opinion in the industry itself, and that he (Sir Joseph) and himself had met representatives of the clearing houseS on more than one occasion.

• Not in Concert " I know there was opposition in the industry," rejoined Sir Joseph Nall, " hut it came from those firths which do not work in concert with the 'clearing houses, If the Ministry is to take an unbiased, overall, view of the whole industry, it must have-regard to every section, whether they agree with each other or not. It is the business of the Ministry to overrule the prejudices of the different sections."

Captain Ga,mmans, on behalf of the 90,000 road hauliers, said:—" These men, who set themselves up in business by their thrift; initiative and hard work, have seen their businesses disappear. They have given up their lorries and have gone into the pool, and they are wondering what is to happen to them after the war. Some tribute might have been paid to the grace with which they did it..

" I do not want to speak about the hauliers' pool to any extent. I have no technical knowledge about it, and I was not a member of the Select Committee which investigated it, but do • not think that the rosy picture i,:vhich the Parliamentary Secretary painted to-day about the success Of that scheme is altogether true. To put it mildly, one hears of many cases of inefficiency, of a woeful waste of transport, and of not-too-comfortable conditions for the men who drive the lorries."

Captain Strickland said that the less the State interfered with industry .the better, and we had had an example in road administration of the inefficient working of the State in a great industry. -He had, from time to time, brought forward instances of ineffici encyand, no doubt the bringing forward of a particular example might easily have led Menabers to think that they were just isolated cases; that in a glorious, well-worked scheme, just one or two things had gone wrong.

He had had in many instances brought to his notice from all over the country that he Could not possibly ignore them.

Mr. Nciel-Baker, replying to the debate, said that Captain Strickland had asked him about the running between two towns, how many vehicles ran during a certain week, and what was the empty mileage? It turned out that they were 99 per cent. loaded. He did not claim that as a merit for the organization. It Was a chance that the traffic happenedto be balanced. Broadly speaking, it was not balanced and, when the hauliers 'came to the M.O.W.T. to negotiate a hiring rate for their vehicles, they said: " Let us start from present-day conditions and let us allow 75 per cent, loaded running as a basis."

Perhaps that was a little low. He thought that with good working it would be 80 to 85 per cent. We have Made tests, arid we made them during the very months on which Capt.. Strickland's evidence was based'— December and -January last. In December we took a check of the woaii of 54 units, one in each area in the country. it gave us anoverall result of 81 per cent, of loaded running.

" We thought it was too good to be true. We made three other checks in January. The first gave 81 per cent. again and the second gave 82 per cent. The third was, to my mind, rnuch the most striking. There the figure was 72 per cent. • That area, like all those in the category, had, been included in our overall December test, Which gave Us 81 per cent.

" I think these figures show that, so far as empty running is a test—and up to a point it is—this organization, which has not had long to run itself in —I wish it had been set up much sooner—is doing very well.

Motorways Are Planned " I pass on to general planning for the future. What are we doing? A number of Members has asked about trunk roads and motorways. We are arranging to take over a much greater mileage as trunk roads. We are getting on very satisfaCtorily in our negotiations with local highWay authorities about the roads which shall he so taken over.

" As at present advised, we intend to go on using the highway authorities as agents for the work a construction, .maintenance and repair. I .do not say that that an inflexible, unbreakable rule, but that .is, broadly speaking, the present intention.

,

We intend: to make motorways, Mr. Noel-Baker continued: – The Government, by a: statement ,which I made some, time ago, is committed to the principle of motorways.


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