-Political Commentary
Page 58
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The Time Has Come
IT would have to happen that, just when the Labour Party seemed at last about to reach agreement on a problem, it should be found to lack substance. For several years now, a section of the Party has raged against the C-licence holder, and they must have counted as a notable step forward the cautious indication by Mr. Herbert Morrison at the Party's Scarborough conference that "it may be necessary to deal with the C licences within appropriate limits and over an appropriate area." He added the qualification that the details of Party policy might vary according to circumstances "when the time comes."
The people who wish to shackle the C-licence holder may think that .circumstances will be obliging and enable them to keep their enmity inveterate. They know that the number of C-licensed vehicles has gone on increasing since the end of the war, and they see no reason why the process should stop unless restrictions are imposed. They now have figures for nearly 10 years, summarized in the reports of the Licensing Authorities for 1952-1953 that were recently published in an abridged form by the Ministry of Transport. At December in each of the following years, the number of C-licensed vehicles was as follows: 1945, 306,443; 1946, 383,738; 1947, 487,151; 1948, 590,516; 1949, 672,301; 1950, 733,044; 1951, 796,343; 1952, • 833,936; 1953, 866,322.
According to the Ministry, there were 882,557 C-licensed vehicles in June, 1954, so that the rate of increase, which at one time was a little over 100,000 a year, is still high. Another 16,235 vehicles were added in the first half of this year. The argument based on these figures is that the trader is keeping more and more of his traffic for his own vehicles, thus making it more difficult for the railways and the road carriers to operate.
Recognized As False
The , assumption is too easily made that C-licensed vehicles form a homogeneous whole and all do more or less the same kind of work. This only has to be stated to be recognized as false. Maj.-Gen. G. N. Russell, chairman of the board of management of British Road Services, was stating the obvious when he said the other day that "more than half the C-licensed vehicles are small vans which do not concern the haulier, being used for the most part by tradesmen and others for the delivery of the goods they sell." The dividing line he had in mind to distinguish these vehicles from the rest was an unladen. weight of 10 cwt., and he is supported by the fact that payment of the levy is not required in respect of vehicles not exceeding that weight.
Any numerical discussion about the C-licence holder should properly exclude the smaller vehicles. The published tables make it possible to abstract them from the comprehensive figures, and to show separately how they have increased.
In December, 1948, there were 322,335 ancillary vehicles under 30 cwt. unladen and a year later 372,614, representing a 16 per cent. increase. In December, 1950, the total was 402,077, an increase of 8 per cent.; the next year, 437,602, 8.8 per cent.; in 1952, 464,898, 6.3 per cent.; and last year, 491,795, 5.8 per cent. In five years there has been a rise of 169,460 vehicles, or 53 per cent. The total of 505,605 in June, 1954, shows that the annual rate of increase is still nearly 6 per cent. This is as expected. The trader finds it more and more useful to have his delivery van. He provides an improved service to his custbmers without, so far as one can see, entering even remotely into competition with the professional carrier.
The. number of larger vehicles under C licences has also increased, but at a different pace from that of the smaller vehicles.
In December, 1948, there were 268,181 ancillary vehicles over 30 cwt. unladen and a year later, 299,687, an increase of 11.7 per cent. The total was 330,967 a year later, a rise of 10.4 per cent. In 1951 the figure had become 358,741, undergoing an 8.4 per cent, increase, and in 1952 it was 369,038, another advance of 3 per cent. The 1953 total was 374,527, an increase of 1.5 per cent.
In five years there has been a rise of 106,346 vehicles, or 40 per cent., but it has been almost all concentrated in the first three years. Up to June, 1954, another 2,425 vehicles had been added, less than 1 per cent, of the total of 376,952.
Much Better So Far
Up to the end of 1951, the annual increases. in both the large and small categories of vehicle were greater than many people had expected. In 1951 the index of industrial production had risen 17 .poinis above the average of 100 in 1948, not much more than the number of small C-licensed vehicles had risen in the single year 1949. The index fell to 114 in 1952, but recovered to 121 in 1953, and is doing very much better so far this year. The small increases this year and last in the number of C-licensed vehicles exceeding 30 cwt. are more than accounted for by the need to carry the greatly increased tonnage of national production.
There is, of course, no need to accept the easy assumption—axiomatic to the Labour Party—that the rise of the C licence is an evil to be fought to the last vehicle All parties applaud when production goes up, and there would be only praise for the railways if they put on more trains. It is a good thing to know, however, that there is no evidence of an unlimited expansion of C-licence operation. • The figures ought to silence the loudest, if not the most efficient, weapon of the other side. .
Various reasons may be given for the slowing down of the rate of increase. There is the fact that many C licences granted soon after the war have elapsed at the end of the five-year currency period. The greater variety of services offered as a result of denationalization has made many traders reluctant either to take out new licences or to renew the old. This would certainly explain why the increase in heavy vehicles has dropped to 100 a week, although newly licensed small vans continue to come on to the road at the rate of nearly 3,000 a month. The explanation is not likely to find a responsive audience among the Socialists. The time to which Mr. Herbert Morrison refers may, however, already have come for them to reconsider their attitude towards road transport.