Please, Mr. Porter, Don't Say "Dr. Beeching"
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A RESOLUTION "deploring the I—I Government's lethargy in improving road and rail services in 20th century Britain," was withdrawn by the proposer at the annual conference of the Central Council of the Conservative and Unionist Associations in London last week.
The withdrawal followed a reply by the Minister of Transport and attacks by other speakers on the resolution's unwarranted application of the word lethargy to the Minister.
Moving the resolution, Mr. George Farnham, prospective Conservative candidate for North-West Leicester, told the conference that British Railways could lose an extra £43 million "quicker than a porter takes to say Beeching." "We are knocking at the door of the Common Market," Mr. Farnham went on to say. "We seek to compete in Europe with lines of communication fit for the last century. It will not be long before Germany has 3,000 miles of motorway and we will be lucky if we have 300."
Attacking Mr. Farnham's resolution, Mr. Peter Walker, M.P. for Worcester, described it as " the limit." " We are talking here about a Minister who has probably been more active, more energetic and more successful than anyone else in the Government," he said. "To come here and find this motion deploring the lethargy of this industrious Minister in tackling these grave problems is about the end."