A Warning from Scotland
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F INLESS they realized their responsi
bilities to one another and to the industry as a whole, operators might one day find that Parliament had decided to step in and take control of the industry. This warning was given by Mr. John Loudon, S.S.C., general secretary of the S.C.M.U.A., in a report to the annual meeting of the Association in Edinburgh last week. Sir John M' Donald, president, occupied the chair.
Railway and coastwise shipping interests, highly organized and co-ordinated, the report continued, had not been slow to take advantage of the lack of organization which unfortunately continued to exist in the roadtransport industry and were doing their utmost, not only to undermine public confidence in road transport, but so to direct legislation that more and more traffic must inevitably be diverted to rail and sea. The chairman, in a reference to wages and conditions of employment, paid a tribute to both side of the Conciliation Board connected with Scottish transport. They had an arrangement with their drivers in Scotland-that the question of wages would be left in abeyance for a period of six months. That showed a great deal of harmony and a fine spirit. The granting of A licences for a period of five years rather than one year, Sir John added, would give the industry a better opportunity of building up a co-ordinated set of haulage rates, which would regularize traffic and have a steadying effect on retail prices.
Sir John M'Donald was reappointed president and Sir Wm. J. Thomson, vice-president. The meeting adopted a motion that the licences of drivers of heavy goods vehicles should be extended to operate for a period of five years.