Political Commentary By JANUS
Page 59
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
C and Sympathy
WHEN nothing new has been heard of a subject for
• some time, it tends to take on a new appearance. The more things change, say the French, the more they remain the same way. In the same way, the more things remain the same, the greater they change.
The publication in an official booklet of the Labour party's determination to renationalize long-distance road haulage met with immediate protests from the operators concerned. This was just a little surprising, in that the Socialists had already several times made their policy plain.
As was expected, the Labour party took no notice of the protests, and approved the booklet at their annual conference, with one or two rough comments on the morals of hauliers thrown in for good measure. There the position rests, but it is noticeable that some of the Socialists who have a particular interest in transport are talkingless in terms of ownership than in terms of control, Will the transfer of ownership of a few thousand vehicles back to British Road Services do anything except satisfy political spite that must become. less and less intense with the passing of time? It seems doubtful. The whole issue of nationalization in the first place was to secure a complete grip on all long-distance transport, leaving private enterprise to cope with local and some specialized work.
If the Socialists are returned to power, and if they ever get down to the question of transport, renationalization will be only a small part of their programme. They will almost certainly want to revise the licensing system as a whble.
Their aim, whether avowed or not, will be to protect the railways as the backbone of the country's transport and to keep complete control over any likely rivals. The purpose has remained unaltered since 1945, and the first Transport Act, of 1947, was intended to fulfil it. At no time were the hopes of the planners remotely near coming to fruition. The excuse is remarkably threadbare that the next Act, in 1953, destroyed an experiment that would ultimately have produced the ideal
Solemn Warnings
All this points obviously to the C-licence holder as the villain of the piece. After hesitating in 1947, the Socialists grudgingly allowed him to keep his freedom, not without some solemn warnings and appeals to the so-called national interest. Bliss was it in that dawn to be a Socialist! It seemed that nothing would stop the triumph of State control over private interests.
Things did not work out as expected. The trader, finding the advantage of using his own transport for many purposes, natUrally began to acquire more and more vehicles, a process that has gone on ever since but was undoubtedly accelerated when so much of long-distance public transport was put under common ownership.
The number of C-licensed vehicles had increased approximately threefold since the war. Against this background, the acquisition of nearly 40,000 vehicles by B.R.S. and the subsequent return to independent operation of just over half that number seem of little account, no more than a minor skirmish.
So far therefore fiaarn the threat of renationalization coming as a tremendous statement etched fOr all time on the country's economy, it has faded away with scarcely a trace. The hauliers remain impressed, of course, and are making careful plans to put their case to the public for remaining free. The public themselves, however, have taken little or no notice of the threat, which in consequence has seemed even more of a major operation for a minor result.
Meanwhile, that part of the public included within the description " trade and industry " are slowly coming to realize where the true danger lies. The increase in the number of goods vehicles—almost entirely confined to the C-licensed section—is now running well ahead of such comparative figures as the index of production or the increase in the rate of productivity. If the Socialists began to criticize this development, and put it forward as the reason for imposing some restrictions on C-licence holders, they might win the unthinking support of many people not directly involved.
Popular Appeal
This support would without doubt be much stronger than the doubtful popular appeal for renationalization. People do not see the C-licence holder as an almost instinctive subject for sympathy. In general they feel he should have the right to operate his own vehicles, but many are not immune to a suggestion that in the general interest some curb should be imposed upon that right. They may be persuaded that it is necessary in order to preserve the railways, in,uch in the same way as they accept restrictions upon imports, to protect industries not able to cope with unlimited competition.
By some such means the Socialists would contrive, without alienating public opinion too much, to draw both the C-licence holder and the haulier into their maw. While trade and industry .are still expecting the main attack to fall on the renationalization section, the whole–campaign might be almost over.
In view of this, traders should not take the view, which is apparently adopted by some of them, that they are the second line of defence behind the hauliers and that they need not therefore worry unduly until the first line is breached. On the other hand, they ought not completely to discount the possibility that this will in fact be the order of events.
Trade and industry must therefore prepare alternative plans, Their great aSset is their economic strength, just as the hauliers, without having overwhelming force, can reckon upon public sympathy. C-licence holders must remember all the time that there is little popular appeal in their case.
Any campaign they decide upon must therefore have the object of explaining carefully how the use of their own vehicles improves service and keeps down .costs. This may not be as simple an operation as it sounds, for the vehicle most likely to be threatened is not the delivery van, with which the public are most familiar, but the longdistance heavy vehicle, which is certainly seen by the public, but usually without a clear understanding of its true purpose.
Simultaneously, trade and industry may find it a useful insurance to line up with the haulier—as they did in 1947— without ultimately being involved in the haulier's fate. By this means, the ranks of free enterprise, clearly recognized by the public as such, will be augmented, and there will be all the more hesitation about any attempt at ftirther in terference.