Road Transport Topics By Our Special In Parliament Parliamentary Correspondent NEARLY 17,500 VEHICLES REQUISITIONED
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IT was stated by Mr. Hore-Belisha, 'Secretary of State for War, when questioned by Captain Strickland, that up to October 28 last, 17,446 goods vehicles, none of which was the property of a railway company, had been impressed under the provisions of the Army Act. He added that there had been no requisitioning by the War Department of vehicles under the Defence Regulations.
Mr. R. J. Taylor contended that there was tremendous dissatisfaction about the requisitioning of those
private vehicles. In some :cases. he explained, a man had been told to get another lorry, and his own lorry had not been taken, so that he then had two vehicles on his hands, whilst, in other cases, lorries which 1-ad been taken had been sent back to the owners. "Obviously, if one requisitions about 18,000 vehicles, inconvenience is caused," replied the War Minister, " but the bulk of the requisitioning has now been done." "
HIRING TERMS FOR IMPRESSED VEHICLES I T was elicited by Captain Strickland that hiring of vehicles was arranged by Army Commands at rates agreed with each individual contractor. Agreements provided for bills to be paid monthly or on completion of the service, if this were of shorter duration. Instructions had been issued that, in cases where it had been impracticable to arrive at agreed rates, substantial advances should he made pending final settlement. Where rules could not be agreed, provision was made for recourse to arbitration.• Sir Kingsley Wood, Secretary of State for Air, stated that no road vehicles had been requisitioned by the Air Ministry, but 971 had been purchased by impressment. The number of goods vehicles requisitioned for Admiralty use was 318.
CAPTAIN WALLACE TRUSTS THE INDUSTRY
the suggestion that he should rarrange for organized clearing centres in all large towns and industrial centres, in order that road traffic could be organized to secure the best results, and arrange for return loads wherever possible, the Minister of Transport replied that efforts were being made by associations, representative of the road transport industry, to work out a satisfactory scheme for clearing centres. It would, in his view, be preferable for the industry itself to evolve a sound clearing organization, than for him to itripose upon it a scheme of his own. . As the organization had been encleavburing to do this for at least the past
four years, asked a Labour critic, did not the Minister think it was time that he himself came in and endeavoured to co-ordinate the activities of road users?
" No, sir," replied Captain Wallace tartly. " I said that in my opinion it is much better that they should do it themselves."
DEFENCE PERMITS—FAIR CONDITIONS
T"point was put by Captain Strickland that the Minister of Transport should issue instructions that whenever a vehicle had been requisitioned for national service, and application made for the licensing of a vehicle of similar carrying capacity, the licence should be issued for the same period of time and of the same class as that of the requisitioned vehicle.
To this Captain Wallace replied that Regional Transport Commissioners were at present issuing defence permit certificates under the Emergency Powers (Defence) Road Vehicles and Drivers Order, 1939, in lieu of licences under the Road and Rail Traffic Act, 1933. The owner of a requisitioned vehicle, who applied for the substitution, on his licence or permit, of a vehicle of the same or of a less weight unladen was always granted a defence permit for the period covered by the instalment of the licence fee already paid.
No charge was made for the issue of a defence permit in these circumstances, and the permit enabled the vehicle to be used for any of the purposes for which the original vehicle could have been used.
REQUISITIONED VEHICLES TOTAL NEARLY 3,500
THE Minister of Transport stated that his Department had requisitioned 3,453 vehicles, 41 on behalf of the Armed Forces and the remainder on behalf of local authorities for Civil Defence purposes. The powers of the Departme,nt did, not extend to. the impressment of vehicles.
HIRE-PURCHASE PAYMENT ON VEHICLES REQUISITIONED 10UHAT is the position, asked Mr. Wilfred Roberts, of persons who, having bought ' transport vehicles on the hire-purchase system, and subsequently had those vehicles requisitioned, are now being pressed by the companies to pay interest on the purchases at the rates applicable for the whole period of the purchase agreement, although the purchase has now been settled by the payment of a lumpsum? Would the Minister of Transport intervene on behalf of the purchasers?
Captain Wallace stated that he had no power to intervene, nor would it be proper for him to express an Opinion as to whether requisition or acquisition of the vehicle had the effect in law of modifying or terminating the agreement. He could only suggest that the parties to such agreements should ascertain both their legal obligation to make further payments and their right to apportionment of the compensation under Section 13 of the Compensation (Defence) Act, 1939.
A CASE FOR CLEARING-HOUSE CENTRES I N the same speech in which he quoted The Commercial Motor, Mr. Ellis Smith stated that a representative of one of the largest concerns in the country informed him that it was essential that delicate parts of certain apparatus it manufactured should receive only one handling. It was therefore necessary to use road transport so that the apparatus might be sent direct to where it was being installed, or to the nearest seaport.
The concern had to send these loads to many parts of the country, and in the absence of suitable clearing centres large vehicles were in consequence going to industrial centres and returning empty. He thought clearing centres would have been organized long before now in order that the road transport system might be used to the best advantage.