The Middlesex Toll Confirmed.
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We have heard much comment during the past week on the position of clause 25 in the Middlesex County Council Bill_ It will be found that, elsewhere in this issue (pages 512-514) we complete our record of the proceedings before the Committee of the House of Lords. The portion of the evidence which we report, together with speeches by counsel, discloses the fact that the borough engineers of Westminster, Fulham and St. Marylebone made very emphatic statements in regard to the absence of special damage by motor
buses in their areas. They unfortunately did not sufficiently connect the produce of a particular rate of levy with a particular cost of road maintenance, although Mr. Bradley, tlie City Engineer of West
minster, gave certain remarkable figures. We particularly refer to his statement that certain heavilytrafficked highways, with numerous motorbus services upon them, had cost, over the past four years, a total of £2800 per annum for maintenance, whereas a tax on the Middlesex basis of 0.375d. per omnibusmile would have produced ..c..4750 per annum. It is extremely regrettable that the evidence which the Roads Improvement Association had ready to present was not heard. The House of Lords passed the Bill at its sitting on Monday last, so Mr. Lewis Coward, K.C., who was briefed in Committee on behalf of the Association, and who fought very hard for the locum when objection was raised by counsel for the Middlesex County Council to the bearing of the R.I.A. petition, will not again have the opportunity of which he was deprived on the 7th inst. Great credit is none the less due to Mr. John Eennedy who acted as Parliamentary agent on its bsbalf, to counsel, to the secretary, Mr. Wallace E. Riche, and to those members of the Committee who were responsible for the preparation of the petition and evidence to support it. Their efforts have not been wasted, and the data which they collected and put into shape remain available For submission to the forthcoming Select Committee of both -.leitses. The writer has been enabled to put on record, in " The Times " of Wednesday last, the essential points of the situation, and he is gratified to know that the enetants of his letter have been thus brought under thnotice of many members of the 'Upper House. They were quoted in Monday's debate, of which we ;.hati give a report next week, We do not fear for the future, being well satisfied that one result of the forthcoming Select Committee's investigations will he the setting aside of any existing local powers which prove on investigation to be contrary to the best interests of the community and to its own ultimate findings. We forecast. that Middlesex will never enjoy any income from the toll of 0.375d. which it fondly believes it has secured ; in fact, we will go so far as to forecast that, before any lootorlinses are put upon the new highway when it is ready, Middlesex County Council may be glad to offer an equal bonus to obtain for its local ratepayers the advantages of a motorbus service on that highway. Communication will otherwise be poor.
Provincial Parades.
The C.M.U.A. decided recently, in deference to the widely-expressed views of supporters of the annual London parades, to continue those parades without intermission: it will, therefore, probably not take any initiative in regard to proposals for a parade in the Provinces next year. The General Coms mittee oF the Association, at its meeting in June, decided to keep open the question of holding such a parade as well as the regular London parade, but our construction of its intentions leads us to conclude that it will do nothing in the absence of an invitation from Alackpool, Blackburn, Preston, Bolton, Manchester, or some other town. We see no reason, for example, why Newcastle-onTyne or Nottingham might not put in a good •claim.
We find that certain discussions have been taking place in the council meetings of several of the abovementioned towns, and particularly at the Blackpool Town Council. At its July meeting, the Blackpool Council came to the conclusion that there was plenty of time between now and next year to consider the matter, and it was therefore deferred, but we observe with interest that "The Blackpool Times" thinks that it would be a good plan, and beneficial to this popular seaside resort., if overtures were made forthwith. In regard to this deferment of consideration, our contemporary writes, in the course of a special leading article which it devotes to the subject: "It is to be hoped that the decision will not be misunderstood by those concerned. . . It is inconceivable that the decision should be associated with anything like apathy towards the proposal. . . Our opinion is that the sooner a matter of this kind is taken in hand the better. . . . In this matter, something like a good opportunity seems to be on offer to Blackpool. if that be conceded, why anything in the nature of procrastination on the part of the Town Council ? . . . If the people most concerned wish to know at this juncture whether Tilaekpool would favour the provision of facilities for the fixture, it is no business of Blackpool's to decide as to whether there is ample time for giving consideration to the proposition. The Town Council would do well to make up its mind at once on so highly important a. matter."
We believe that the C.M..U.A. will he making a mistake if it hesitates to take up the proposal for holding a parade in the Provinces next year, and a still greater mistake if it does not of its own accord give a lead which will allow the interested town councils the opportunity to have an official letter before them upon which they can formally discuss the question of extending an invitation. The C.IVI:C.A. cannot fail to do itself good if it moves the direction of strengthening its provincial support, both through existing centres and, in the case of areas where no such affiliated bodies exist, direct.
We remain strongly in favour of a provincial parade, but. we cannot hide from ourselves the fact
that the strain upon the finances of the Association might he too great if it undertook two such events in one year without material assistance from the locality to which it decided to pay a visit. The decision not to forego the London parade, even for a. single year, has admittedly rendered the fulfilment of proposals for a 1915 provincial parade more difficult of attainment than would otherwise have been the case. It is for that reason, amongst others, that
the necessity for a properly-extended invitation on the part of some municipal body in the Provinces must be forthcoming in advance. That invitation, too, must contain a guarantee of local facilities free of charge, so far as storage, assembly, water supply and police supervision go. All these facilities are provided free of charge each year in London, and they might otherwise very easily reach a total sum in excess of 2250. An the money that can be collected when the time comes will be wanted to swell the prize fund, and so to increase the vehicular assembly