OPINIONS and QUERIES ALL WILL BE AFFECTED AND ALL MUST
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FIGHT J WONDER if the motor industry realizes fullythe danger to itself if road transport be nationalized. Every manufacturer, distributor; dealer, small garage and petrol-filling station, as well as allied trades and industries, will be vitally affected.
Obviously, when the Aand B-licence holders are taken over, the State will erect vast service and repair depots at strategic points throughout the country. All service, including the sale of spare parts, petrol, tyres, etc., for road transport will become part of the State monopoly. The commercial vehicle side of the motor trade will rapidly disappear, leaving only ancillary and private-car users as the customers of the motor trade.
It is possible that C-licence holders might continue as such for a year or two longer,.but one can envisage the. time when more than 50 per cent of the larger motor concerns will be forced out of business by the economic impossibility of meeting overhead charges from the revenue to be expected from the private-car side only.
After the Government service stations will come the Government factories for the manufacture of commercial vehicles by the State for the State, followed, naturally, by the manufacture of the peoples' cars— probably two models—one large and comfortable enough for Mr. Ernest Bevin and for export and one small and economical enough to be used under the new c.c. rating. These would be sold direct or through the State-owned garages, and would be serviced and maintained by Government workshops.
The time has come when our great motor industry must range itself alongside the road transport industry and fight for that freedom for personal initiative and private enterprise which has been the envy of the world and which enabled us to overtake and defeat nationalized Germany. This must apply to our great manufacturers as well as to the smallest motor trader. It must also apply to tyre manufacturers and distributors, coachbuilders, hire-purchase and insurance companies, accessory manufacturers and factors, newspapers which derive much revenue from motor-industry advertisements and the dozens of other trades and even professions, some well known, others obscure, which will all be affected by this gigantic octopus of State monopoly. P. G. EMERY Bristol. , (For Mullett's Motor Works, Ltd.) ALL SHOULD JOIN IN CAMPAIGN AGAINST NATIONALIZATION THANKS to Mr. E. B. Howes for the well-written I article which appeared in "The Commercial Motor" dated November 16, also for the splendid stand he made at the Caxton Hall against the nationalization of road haulage. It seems as if a leader has at last emerged in the industry, and one with the " guts " to stand and fight. Every member of the haulage fraternity should be solidly behind him and the others who are resisting this encroachment on our freedom and the " robbery " of our hard-won livelihoods.
I have not always agreed with the views of Mr. Howes, as expressed from time to time in " Th,e Commercial Motor," in fact, on occasion I have felt violently in opposition to him, but on this question of nationalization, I am with him all the way and will do what I can in my small way to help'.
It is to be hoped that this big meeting was not just a flash in the pan, and that a great campaign, which wilt command the support and win the confidence of the whole industry, is in preparation, also that it will be seen through to a successful conclusion and thus avert what would otherwise be a major disaster.
The campaign, if conducted with vigour and determination,, can make history, and possibly bring the Government to its senses. The help of all concerned should be enlisted. The manufacturers would certainly be the losers if their only customer was a Government Department; so would be commercial-vehicle distributors, agents and other members of the retail motor trade. It might ,be possible to obtain considerable support from transport drivers and other employees, as I believe a large majority of these workers is opposed to the nationalization of their industry. We -will, I know, continue to have . the support of "The Commercial Motor."
A. E. O'HALLORAN, M.I.M.I., A.I.R.T.E.
Bristol.
PETITIONS TO MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT?
A S one of your old readers and a long-distance lorry 1-1driver of over 26 years' road experience, I would like to remind you that over two years ago I said in a letter to your journal that it was time that all concerns, big and small, in the haulage industry, got together and demanded their rights as citizens of a free country.
Now we may have to stand up and see our employers, the hauliers, being forced to close or sell their businesses. Many others who have been in the Services and are now being demobilized had hoped to make a restart in the industry. What will they think of the new system? Many of them now are unable to obtain licences.
I appeal again for the right to earn our living. All contractors, large and small, garage proprietors, fitters, drivers and others interested, including those in the repairing industry, pump attendants, etc., should sign petitions for submission to their respective Members of Parliament. With a strong backing, they would not dare to suppress these. LONG-DISTANCE DRIVER. London, EU.
THE BEST WAY IN WHICH TO INFORM THE runic CAPTAIN GAM MANS hit the nail on the head when he told us to "let the public know." Unfortunately, we shall get little help from the national Press until the Bill comes before Parliament. Then it may be too late.
Recently, a member of the editorial 'staff of a big " daily " broke down here, and while his car was being repaired I gave him a good lecture on the subject of road transport freedom. I was fortunate enough to' be able to give him first-hand evidence from a local market gardener who many times in the past few weeks has not been able to get his perishable vegetables to market.
I have often said at what were A.R.O. meetings that we must get in the news, but thegeneral idea has always been that it was impossible, because the railways spent so much on advertising. My editorial friend denied this, but said that the papers. could publish only news.
We can expect little help from the Opposition in Parliament, it is almost powerless, but we can help ourselves.
When rationing began, my company had large bills printed locally and stuck them on its lorries. They read: "Road Transport Feeds You and Demands Fair Rations." I still have about 50 and will have the backs printed if no other posters be available. Let the slogans be factual, the associations supplying the figures, and it should then be possible to convince the public that thousands of independent hauliers can give it better service than one elephantine State organization could possibly do.
Operators, drivers, customers and many of their staffs know the effects of State-controlled road services, and I hope to propose at R.H.A. meetings that every member all over the country organizes a petition, each in his own circle, demanding that the Government shall give us our freedom. By such democratic means we can prove to the Government that for once it is wrong.
Sandy, Beds. J. H. ATKINS, (For Atkins Bros. (Sandy); Ltd.).
[Since Mr. Atkins wrote this letter, important progress has been made in the fight against nationalization. Hundreds of thousands of pamphlets have been printed for issue by operators to users, the R.H.A. has posters available, and we believe that the H.M.F. is also producing some. In addition, meetings between operators and their clients, traders and the public are being arranged throtighout the country.—En.]
. LATIN AMERICA WANTS BIGGER ENGINES
THE writer has read with great interest the letter entitled "More Suggestions to British Makers," by J. W. Bateman, which appeared in your September 28 issue.
I fully agree with Mr. Baternan's views, especially with the point that British commercial-vehicle manufacturers "should put more power underneath the bonnets.'
• If British producers would supply a larger capacity engine for export and reserve their standard power units for the home market they would definitely obtain their fair share of the export market.
British automotive products enjoy an excellent reputation abroad, but sales are usually restricted, not only -due to price, but to under-powered engines that cannot easily negotiate stiff gradients at the high altitudes which are so characteristic of operating conditions in Latin-American territory.
. JORGE BARRANCO, Managing Director. 4 (For Productos Automotrices Britanicos, S.A.) Mexico, D.F., Mexico.
THE PRICE OF MILK HAULAGE
JUDGING by statements appearing in your issue of November 16, S.T.R. and Mr. E. B. Howes apparently have a little learning which, we are informed, is a dangerous thing and apt to lead people to rush in where angels fear to tread.
Mr. H. Walker had the means at his disposal to know better. He should have consulted his area secretary before he rushed into print.
A meeting of my Milk Carriers' Functional Group Committee on November 9, heard both sides of the case to which S.T.R. referred. The haulier and his accountant were present, together with other complainants.
A vote of confidence in the Joint Milk Haulage Committee was carried unanimously by the Functional Group Committee. The haulier and other complainants expressed the view that the Joint Milk Haulage Committee had done all that was possible in the interests of the haulier, and the haulier stated that he was now entirely satisfied with the Committee's work in his case.
Whoever told S.T.R. " seriously " that a decision had been reached before the haulier went into the room to have his case heard, I classify as a mischief maker. .There is not the slightest foundation in fact for such a statement, and I am somewhat surprised that S.T.R. should have accepted and given publicity to such a palpable untruth. F. L. SABATINI, Rates and Charges Officer, London, W.1. Road Haulage Association.
(If Mr. Sabatini states it is a fact that a vote of confidence in the Joint Milk Haulage Committee was carried unanimously by the Functional Group Committee, I accept it as such, but he in his turn must accept also as an incontrovertible fact that the appellant and myself, before we entered the room for the appeal to be made, were in the possession of the information that the rate to be granted was Is. Id. per gallon. Mr. Sabatini and I have fought one another too often for it to be necessary for me to assure him that I can enter into a fight of this description and, win or lose, come out of the encounter with a smile and in good faith. It is not, therefore, in the sense of being disgruntled that I make the following point: In this business I am, in good faith and to the best of my knowledge and ability, fighting the cause of the road haulier. I am entirely at a loss to understand why Mr. Sabatini and the R.H.A. are joining issue with me in this matter, and it seems to me to be a relevant question, for whom are Mr. Sabatini and the R.H.A. fighting? Whatever may be Mr. Sabatini's opinion of my knowledge pf the subject of milk haulage and its costs and rates, I have sufficient confidence in myself, and find that others, too, have that confidence, and I do not propose to let the matter rest.—S.T.R.]
A SOTONIAN'S VIEWS ON NATIONALIZATION
IAM a member of both associations (the Road Haulage Association, and the Hauliers Mutual Federation), was present at the Caxton Hall meeting, and heard the discussions and speeches, in which I was very interested. I am going all out in opposing the Government's plan to nationalize road transport.
Please find enclosed one sheet of our local newspaper, on which you will see a letter headed "Road Transport," which I should like you to publish in "The. Commercial Motor," to let the readers see how a Sotonian has expressed his feelings towards nationalization of road transport. I have found out that the writer (Mr. H. C. Clegg) has no interest whatever in road transport, as he is a machinist by trade.
Totton, Southampton. IVOR HATCHER, Road Transport Contractor.
[The letter referred to, which appeared in the "Southern Daily Echo" of November 30, is to the effect that we are fairly well off now compared with what we may have to put up. with later. The first meddling with the industry was the Road Traffic Act of 1930, then came the Road and Rail Traffic Act, 1933, which nearly strangled private enterprise, to the glreat disadvantage of the public. The Government is now preparing for the final kill, i.e., the nationalization of road hauliers. The lumbering, ungainly, apathetic Civil Service is about to turn its attention to the fast-moving business of rind haulage. The ironic point is that some 60,000 small hauliers (a good percentage of them are ex-Servicemen) do not want to be forced to give up their businesses. The makers of the goods they haul do not want to send them by rail or through a nationalized road transport system. Obviously, the general public knows little about the haulage business.—ED.]