Warp and Woof
Page 49
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‘‘ HURCHILL for once followed the pattern C rather than set it," said Maggie's brother Cromwell, "when he gave up office a week or so after all those other resignations."
"I do not suppose he knew any more about them than I do," said Maggie a little sharply.
"He knows a good bit more than you suspect," said Cromwell, "and you can depend upon it he was keeping an occasional eye on what was happening to the hauliers and with denationalization."
"He would need a very penetrative eye for that," I said. "The position is obscure even to people who are in the thick of it."
"Sir Winston has a gift for probing that sort of atmosphere," said Cromwell. He has often gazed into the mists of the future."
" it is the mists of the past that interest me," I said. "There is no more permanence in the sales that have already taken place than there is in transport units yet to come. No sooner do you hear that somebody has a unit than he has sold it to somebody else."
"The broker's men are in almost before the furniture arrives," said Cromwell. "But I have no doubt Churchill would have found a phrase for it; perhaps something about hauliers and dealers weaving the warp and woof of free enterprise. I am surprised you have not used the expression yourself.
" I object." I said. "I never write like that."
"Not when he is sober, anyway," said Maggie. " I am surprised to hear you talking about denationalization having a future. I thought the whole thing was supposed to be finished in six months after it started a couple of years ago."
'That was what Mr. Lennox-Boyd said at the beginning, when he was appointing the Disposal Board," said Cromwell. "Then he went somewhere else, and now we have Mr. Boyd-Carpenter, who has recently invited the Board to carry on for another year."
Not Board's Job Why does not the Disposal Board live up to its name and get on with the disposal?" asked Maggie with some vehemence.
"Because the Board (or so they say) have not been given the job of disposal," 1 said. "That is the responsibility of the British Transport Commission."
"Are they refusing to sell?" asked Maggie.
"They are certainly taking their time about it," I said. "On the other hand, they have offered sonic of the vehicles several times before finding a purchaser for them."
"If people do not want to buy, they have only themselves to blame," said Maggie. "Do they have no idea what the goods are worth?"
"They can make a reasonable estimate of the value of the goods," I said. "There are vehicles, and sometimes premises, and it is not hard to fix a fair market price for them."
The only snag," said Cromwell, "is that if anybody put in a bid that merely covered the cost of the assets, he would get nowhere."
"I can we that far," said Maggie. There must also be something to pay for the value of the goodwill of the business,"
" Except that there is no business," said Cromwell. "The Commission are selling the assets, and keeping as much of the business as they can for themselves. So there is no goodwill sold—perhaps a certain amount of ill-wilt, but no extra charge is made for that," "Then the purchaser gets nothing except the vehicles," said Maggie.
He does also get a licence," I said. "In fact, a special licence."
And how much is that worth?" asked Maggie.
" In the ordinary way £7 105.," I said, "but the buyer of a transport unit gets it free."
"From what ou say, he seems to be paying a tot for something he gets for nothing," said Maggie.
"You are not alone in thinking that," said Cromwell. "Only the other day the Scottish Deputy Licensing Authority said he had evidence that dealers in England were asking £1,200 for a special A licence. When a Scotsman says something about England in a lone of voice that you can easily imagine, you know there is more in it than just a plain statement."
" You keep talking about dealers," said Maggie, "and yet you say the Commission have the job of selling."
Immediately Re-sell 'Very often a vehicle dealer wilt offer the Commission the best price for a unit," I said, "and immediately re-sell it, either as a whole or one or two vehicles at a time. In some cases, a unit may change hands any number of times, and you may be fairly certain a profit is made at each stage."
"11 I wanted a unit," said Maggie, "I should prefer to buy direct from the Commission, and 'cut out the middlemen."
" The ultimate buyer may not want the unit as originally offered," I said. "Perhaps he wants only part of it, and the middleman is providing a useful service by allowing his customer to carve out just the bit that suits him. Or the dealer may substitute better vehicles before re-selling, and so play his part in raising the tone of the road haulage industry."
"As the Commission are not shaping very well as salesmen," said Maggie, "I wonder they do not unload the lot on to a dealer and let him get on with it."
"The haw would hardly stretch to that," I said. "The Commission must try to avoid letting their assets fall into the hands of a monopoly. Generally speaking, they have to put up units, invite tenders, and sell each unit to the highest bidder, provided he bids higher than so much a vehicle Plus the number you first thought of."
I seem to remember reading some time ago," said Maggie. about mysterious deals behind the scenes, with millions Of pounds changing hands."
" Nothing has come of them so far," I said, "but it is true that where very large units or companies are to be offered, arrangements can be made for sale by what the Disposal Board call 'private negotiation.' This, they say, ' is only permissible if public tender would be inappropriate and unlikely to secure the best possible price.' "
"The big man in the private parlour, the small man at the broker's door," said Cromwell. "As always, there is one law for the rich and another for the comparatively poor."