Unofficial Strikes Hit Exports
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"IRRESPONSIBLE unofficial strikes I were attacked by Mr. A. J. Cormack, president of the Scottish Motor Trade Association, at the Scottish Show banquet in Glasgow last Monday.
He pointed out that healthy home and export markets were interdependent. In deciding what proportion of their vehicles should be sent abroad, manufacturers had to consider the strength of the respective markets and the overseas currency-earning position of the country. The motor industry's task as one of the largest earners of foreign currency was handicapped by strikes.
Mr. Ernest Marples' first reaction to the opening of the motorway was not reassuring, said Mr. Cormack, and -he hoped that the !Minister's attitude did not presage a policy of unnecessary speed limits.
Retailers did not look forward to the scheme for thet compulsory testing of vehicles more than 10 years old, but they were willing to carry it out in the public interest. It Was proposed, Mr. Cormack added, to reduce the age limit for vehicles to be inspected in the relatively near. future.
He appealed to planning authorities to stop the unnecessary growth of petrol filling stations.
He hoped that the distribution scheme agreement would be accepted substantially in its present form by the Restrictive Trade Practices Court, Without it, orderly marketing would be difficult to maintain. The hearing of the case by the court was likely to be delayed, perhaps for a .year.
The Earl of Selkirk pointed out that exports of motor vehicles accounted for more than an eighth of the whole of Britain's export trade. He also called for an increase in the standard of qualifications of maintenance engineers.