Road Transport Topics In Parliament
Page 50
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
By Our Special Parliamentary Correspondent
WHY NOT USE EMERGENCY TRACTORS NOW?
WHEN moving the second reading of VV the Agricultural Development Bill, the Minister of Agriculture, Sir Reginald Dorman-Smith, referred to the reserve of tractors provided for in Part V of the Bill. He said that these tractors were for use only in the event of war. He reassured the House that adequate provision had been made for fuel and labour. It had been suggested that use might be made of producer-gas, but that was still in its experimental stage, although its possibilities were being thoroughly explored.
Agricultural tractor drivers, over the age of 21, had now been included in the schedule of reserved occupations. As a second string they were bringing in a scheme for training members of the Women's Land Army.
Mr. T. Williams, welcoming the reserve of tractors, said that if the Minister had spent £1,250,000 in buying them they should not remain in storage and be allowed to deteriorate. He suggested appointing drivers for them at once and renting them to farmers who could not afford to buy them, or selling them to farmers on easy terms.
Mr. de Rothschild inquired whether it was essential to hold the tractors in reserve, saying, why not use them now to break up the land? Before the Minister attained his present office, he continued, he pleaded, in the cause of the farmer, for the tax on the importation of tractors to be reduced or abolished. Surely he would now pay some attention to what he did in those days. He suggested that it was due to that tax that the nation noiv had to pay so much money for this reserve.
SHORTAGE OF TRACK-LAYING MACHINES.
WITH regard to track-laying tracW tors, Mr. de Rothschild continued, a tariff was imposed in 1936 to encourage British makers. What were
the results? He believed there was only one concern producing these tractors and that the output was negligible. (Has not the Hon. Member tripped up in his facts, or is he not in possession of up-to-date information? —ED.) He would like to know whether we had enough machines of this type. If not, he asked the Minister to urge the Cabinet to abandon the tariff so that the industry could make up the deficiency itself.
BUILDING UP A NATIONAL RESERVE OF TRACTORS. ATER, Mr. Morgan asked the Minister whether he had ended negotiations for an emergency supply of tractors and whether all the manufaca40
turers concerned had agreed to co-operate in the scheme.
Sir R. Dorman-Smith said agreement had been reached With the Ford Motor Co., Ltd., for the supply of Fordson tractors, which would be stored by Ford dealers throughout Great Britain, as part of the national reserve of agricultural machinery. This company was the only one in Great Britain which had the necessary productive and distribution capacity to enable a reserve of tractors of the size contemplated to be rapidly acquired and regularly turned over within a reasonable period. This arrangement did not preclude the possibility of acquiring additional supplies of tractors from any other manufacturer in this country if suitable arrangements could be made.
Mr. Godfrey Nicholson asked whether the Minister had considered the possibility of laying in a stock of producergas tractors, in view of the fact that other tractors depend upon imported fuel. His reply was that producer-gas is still in an experimental stage but it is being examined with care. Mr. Nicholson said that the Minister was mistaken in this view.
INFORMATION WITHHELD IN ACCIDENT CASES_
TPON what statutory regulation, asked Sir A. Wilson, did the Metropolitan Commissioner of Police rely, in withholding from persons concerned, copies of statements made to the police by parties to and witnesses of road accidents.
Sir S. Hoare replied that a chief officer of police was under no legal obligation to supply a third party with information furnished to the police by parties to or witnesses of a road accident, and it was the general practice not to furnish such statements to third parties. Where an application for a copy of a statement was not granted, permission would not be given to see the statement at a police station.
NO NEW NOISE REGULATIONS.
AS a result of discussions following the Report of the Departmental Committee on Noise, said the Minister, manufacturers undertook that no vehicle producing an offensive degree of noise would be put on the market. Such an arrangement seemed preferable to the making of Regulations imposing a precise maximum limit of noise.
More than 10,000 noise offences were dealt with by the police during 1937, over 6,000 of them being by prosecution. Arrangements had also been made with the manufacturers of motor horns with a view to the elimination of the more noisy types. LONDON BUS USERS DISGRUNTLED.
A TTENTION was called by Mr. 1–'1, Sorensen to the " widespread indignation" at the increase in fares now operating in London, and asked whether any representations had been made to the Railway Rates Tribunal or to London Transport on behalf of those affected, and whether the Minister of Transport would take legislative action to remove a cause of the increase in fares by redeeming certain L.P.T.B. stock or by securing a lower rate of interest thereon.
Capt. Wallace said he was aware that dissatisfaction' was felt in some quarters and he was receiving a deputation on the subject. About a dozen protests from individuals and ratepayers' associations and one from a district council had been received in his department.
The L.P.T.B. was not .under obligation to consult him before adopting revised fares and did not do so in the case of those brought into force on June 11. The alterations were within the powers conferred on the Board by the London Passenger Transport Act, 1933, and did not require the prior sanction of the Railway Rates Tribunal under the provisions of Section 29.
TRAFFIC LIGHTS OUT OF PEDESTRIANS' VISION.
FROM a large number of pedestrian crossings, said Captain Bullock, it was impossible for walkers to see the changing of the traffic lights. He asked whether consideration had been given to the advantages resulting from a system in use in Paris, where road studs could be illuminated alternatively with green or red lights.
At an ordinary cross-roads provided with light signals, Captain Wallace replied, a pedestrian was not fully protected from turning traffic when the green light was showing towards him. They were therefore advised in the Highway Code that, unless there were " Cross Now " signals, they should not rely solely on light signals, but should pay attention to the traffic.
He did not think the studs referred to offered any material advantage. Moreover, he understood that they projected nearly Ifins, above the surface of the carriageway or footway. As at present advised, he did not feel justified in encouraging highway authorities to use them.
SCOTTISH TRAFFIC COMMISSIONER'S EMOLUMENT.
'T1HE Minister stated that the Chair' man of the Traffic Commissioners for North Scotland received a salary of £1,500 per annum. He was in receipt of a pension of £660 in respect of his services in the Police Force.