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BIRD'S EYE VIEW
Page 66
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By The Hawk
Too Demanding ? Seems rather nice having an Act all to yourself stipulating that you payno rates. The Transport Act 1962 does just that for the Transport Boards' railway and canal hereditaments.
But—inevitably—there's a snag. The Boards must make other payments in lieu. How do you calculate such payments? Read on! "The standard amount shall be . . Increased or decreased by an amount which is the result of multiplying the standard amount (so adjusted) by the fraction of which the numerator is the difference factor and the denominator is the basic figure."
Sooner have the dear old rate demand note after all? Painful, no doubt, but clarity itself by comparison.
Incredible Plus The British Road Federation
has, I see, reacted strongly to Mr. Marples' statement in the House last month that not more than seven and a half miles of motorway will be opened this year. In an editorial in its Bulletin this month it calls this figure "hopelessly unrealistic ". " It fails utterly to reflect the urgency of providing even the limited motorway network at present proposed," says the writer who suggests that the central authority should take the necessary steps to enable a realistic average yearly mileage to be opened. The Bulletin also reminds readers that the County Surveyor's Society has made proposals for a further 1,700 miles of high standard highway, mostly motorways, as a minimum requirement for long-distance traffic.
The Federation's chairman, the Earl of Gosford, comments: "This news is scarcely credible. You really would not think that a million new cars will come out on our roads this year." A further comment from the Earl --" This is ridiculous." Over to you, Minister!
Very Nice, but ... Been for a ride in an ambu
lance lately ? I have. What's more I enjoyed it! The main reason for this, I suppose, was that I was not being carted off to "Emergency Ward 10 "—I was just going for a quiet (no bell!) comfortable run round the block. A very obliging attendant on duty at the L.C.C. Ambulance Exhibition at Wandsworth had offered me the ride to test out the latest L.C.C. stretcher bed which he was obviously very proud of. My verdict—very comfortable. Even so I trust I shall not be called upon for a second opinion!
Gaud Old Days? It was fascinating to see a
really old ambulance at this show. This was of 1883 vintage—and of the horse-drawn variety. This looked forbidding enough from the outside, but the inside. . . . Stout wood, wickerwork and an oil lamp—they had to be tough in those days !
Behind this vehicle, on one of the walls, some interesting quotes from yesteryear appeared on the subject of the conveyance of the sick. Consider this grim extract:
We shall one day have municipal sick-transport waggons attached to our great hospitals or to special ambulance stations, and these waggons shall receive both accident cases and drunkenness cases on the stretcher as they are, and so place them in the waggon and drive them rapidly to the relict centre, It is only in this way that we can free our streets from painful and
degrading sights, and at the same time provide for accident case-----SurgeonMajor I. H. Evatt, MCi. Array Medical Department, 1844,
Charming !
Due Respect, please Mr. J. A. T. Hanlon, Northern L.A. chairman of the Northern Traffic Commissioners, is not a man to be short of words. Some of them are very entertaining, for example the following, which he delivered recently at the annual dinner of the Yorkshire section of the Institute of Transport at Leeds:
"Having now seen the syllabus of the Institute of Transport, I have a strong feeling that members of the Bar ought to stand aside and bow politely when they see a fully fledged member of the Institute!"
At least, I think he was being entertaining.
Topper And All It wasn't just one-upmanship
that caused Professor Colin Buchanan to turn up as guest speaker at the National Conference of Road Transport Clearing Houses lunch in London on Tuesday in top hat and tails. He had, in fact, been to Buckingham Palace that morning to be invested by the Queen with the C.B.E. Together with his wife. and daughter, Professor Buchanan came straight on to the lunch.
As the Conference national president Peter Walker, M.P., remarked, it seemed a long way from the "cloth cap days" that marked the founding of clearing houses.