THE BELFAST BUS PACT.
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Owners' Difficulty in Deciding the Attitude Towards the Agreement Arrived at Between the Corporation and' Bus Concerns.
THE favenrable reception . which greeted the news. of. the Belfast bus pact apPears to have been premature. The pact has since been condemned by the majority of the urban and rural district councils, and a number of cOunty councils and chambers of commerce, whilst eVen the bus miners are not unanimously iu favour. of it.
It . isthe general belief outside the city of Belfast that the pact' will entitle the bigger bee companies to a monopoly of road traffic, that the activities' of small -. •operators,, • particularly • in countrf-distriets, will be restricted, and that the further development of -road traffic 'will "not be pOssible. Members of the' Government. deny -this and the Minister of Home Affairs and his Parliamentary secretary have addressed number of public meetings on the matter. • • • .
• What may be taken as the views of the Country"Wre• recently expreSsed in the •Nerthern.Ireland Houee of ,Cone: )110118 by Mr. G. Henderson, ri farmers' repreSentative. He protested that to save the Belfast Corporation from. bankruptcy the Minister of Home Affairs had put the road rights of the province as a pawn in the game. To this charge the Minister replied that the agreement (between the Belfast Corporation, the
bus owners and the Ministry) was not contingent upon what was done in Belfast, 'which was separate: and dig-, tinct, but, when he was dealing with the traffic problem in Belfast, he thought: it time to deal with the problem in the country.
There is little doubt but that the large bus companies are in favour of the pact, which ensures•the eoutimiance of the services they had in operation
August 27th last (outside Belfast) Without interference, the taking oVer by the-Belfast Corporation of some of the vehicles they had in use in Belfast, and many concessions with regard to parking and stopping places in the city. On the other hand; the smaller cornpasties see in the pact a limitation of their development by restricting them to the services in operation on August 27th. Furthermore, those companies which -were formed after August 27th • foresee their right to operate at all being withdrawn, whilst motor dialers interested in the sale of buses are most Vigorous in their denunciation of the arrangement, which must lead to a decrease in their businesses.
.The Motor Coach Owners' Association is understood to have approved the pact, but a section of the members is anxious to repudiate the agreement " alleged to have been entered into between this Association and the Ministry." This section holds 'that the meeting at which the agreement was said to have been accepted was irregularly summoned, and that the "assent of certain members at that meeting was obtained by misrepresentation on .the part of those who put forward the agreement and by threats and compulsion "on the part of the Ministry of .liome Affairs."
At a recent meeting of the Association tion a resolution-exPeessing tbeSe, views was put forward, Jogether:with' resolutions of resentment at , the Ministry's 'attempt " to force upon the Association acceptance of an agreement designed to benefit sole]Y the Belfast CorPoration train-WaYS system and certain: lare'en bus owners,. whilst at the same tithe depriving,. a majority of bus owners in Northern 'Ireland of the right to compete freely for business."
A f further resolution proceeded: " This AsSoqiation refuses to wait-ueen the Ministry of Home' Affairs until satisfactory assurances have been given that any committee appointed will be received by the Ministry without any attempt to 'dictate to the Aesociation as to its composition and personnel, and that members of the committee will be immune from personal attacks by members of the Government under the shelter of Parliamentary privilege."
When these resolutions came before the Association certain • amendments were suggested, and it was proposed that a committee of three be appointed to wait upon the Ministry from time to time, A vote was about to be taken when the right to vote of certain members present was questioned. Tim meeting could not decide the point and it was arranged to discover who editally were the legal members of the Association.
In the meantime tile Ministry is proceeding with its plans to implement the pact, and what the result will be remains to be seen.