Road Transport Activities
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IN PARLIAMENT
By Our Special Parliamentary Correspondent
London Passenger Transport Bill in the Lords.
FTIRF' House of Lords considered the _L London Passenger Transport Bill in Committee on March 15 and agreed to a large number of amendments mainly of a minor and drafting character. Lord Ralsbury moved an amendment to Clause 1 providing that the transport board should nominate three of its members to sit on the board of appointing trustees, hie object being to secure continuity of policy. The Marquis of Londonderry, who was in charge of the Bill, promised to consider the suggestion before the report stage and the amendment was withdrawn.
A provision was inserted giving effect to the settlement with the Corporation of West Ham, which was reached on the same basis as the agreement with the London County Council and the County Councils of Middlesex and Hertford. July 1 was fixed as the appointed day for the Act coming into operation, with regard to the Associated Equipment Co., Ltd., and other provisions of the Bill. An amendment to Clause 16 makes it possible, in the case of a claim for compensation under the clause in respect of a service operated wholly or mainly within its special area, for the Board to have the option of purchasing the service,in lieu of gompensation.
Power of Manufacture.
OO Clause 21, which restricts the power of the board to manufacture rolling stock or vehicles, Lord Mount Temple moved an amendment to the effect that the Board might continue to manufacture bus bodies for its undertaking, provided that they did not exceed the average number manufactured during the five years previous to January 1, 1931, The House of Commons had altered the date from 1931 to 1932 and Lord Mount Temple, in seeking to reinsert 1931, said the private manufacturers were much •disturbed over the change that had been made, the result of which would be that they would have fewer bus bodies to manufacture. They had accepted 1931 when the Bill was before the Joint Committee and that was, he thought, practically an agreed compromise. 'The year 1931 showed a marked increase in the manufacture of bodies, being more than double the figure of the year before. Consequently, if the average was taken until the end of 1931 instead of to the beginning, the private manufacturers would have so many hundreds fewer bodies to manufacture.
Commons Contention on Manufacture.
IN the Commons it was contended that if the extra quota was not allowed to the board people would be discharged from the Chiswick works and unemployment would be caused. The
answer to that was that the board would be able to sell its works and if it was a genuine business private people would no doubt buy it and carry it on, and there would be no unemployment. He suggested that there should be some compromise. The years 1927, 1928, 1929 and 1930 might be taken and 1926 excluded, seeing that 1926, the year of the general strike, was against the board.
The Marquis of Londonderry said the suggestion was one which he should be glad to follow, and between now and the report stage the Government would consider the matter. The amendment was then withdrawn.
Certificates of Fitness.
FIN Clause 55 an amendment was !L./made to enable the Minister by Order to provide that licences granted by the Police Commissioner under the Act of 1869 to short-stage vehicles, namely, the London buses, shall for the purposes of the Road Traffic Act, 1930, be deemed to include a certificate of fitness. Lord Londonderry explained that as some 6,000 vehicles would be transferred on the appointed day from the licensing jurisdiction of the Police Commissioner to that of the Traffic Commissioner, the certifying officer would, if he were required to issue certificates, have an impossible task. The requirement as to a certificate of fitness should be raived for a period not exceeding five years, the maximum period for which such a certificate was valid. The amendment was agreed to.
Transfer of Personnel.
ANAN amendment to Clause 72, which for the transfer of officers and servants of existing undertakings to the board and secures to them certain rights, extends those rights to persons who have changed their employment, but, as a result of amalgamations of the concerns with which they were employed since the introduction of the Bill, are at the date of transfer employed in a transferred undertaking. The clause as it had stood made the arrangements applicable only to persons who were employed in the transferred undertaking on the date of the introduction of the Bill, March 12, 1931. Since that date some of the smaller undertakings have been absorbed or become amalgamated with other undertakings which are to be acquired.
A new clause was agreed to providing that the London Traffic Advisory Committee should continue in office until the new Advisory Committee to be constituted under the Bill was appointed. Hours of Lorry Drivers ; Further Legislation Required.
MHE Earl of Kinnoull, in the House of Lords, moved that further legislation should be introduced to regulate the hours and conditions of employment of drivers of heavy lorries and steam wagons. Lord Kinnoull also called attendon to the overloading of lorries. Although the Road Traffic Act gave power to the local authorities to erect weighbridges few local authorities had done so.
The Earl of Plymouth, replying for the Government, admitted that the position was not satisfactory, and repeated that the question would be considered in connection with the Government's proposed Bill for the better regulation and control of goods transport by road The Bill was now in active preparation and would be presented to Par
liament shortly. One of the matters under consideration was the provision of means for a more effective enforcement of the law in respect of hours of employment and the overloading of vehicles, and conditions as to time schedules which compelled men to drive at illegal speeds.
Insurance and the Act.
TN the House of Commons, Mr. 1.Llewellyn Jones indicated that a considerable number of the policies of insurance purporting to be issued in accordance with the provisions of Part II of the Road Traffic Act, did not afford a full cover to the owner of the motor vehicle in respect of which the policy was issued, and he asked the Minister of Transport whether he would inquire into the administration of this part of the Act.
Mr. Stanley said it was a matter for the insured person to satisfy himself that the use to which he proposed to put the vehicle was covered by the terms of his policy.
Rear Lights.
T TPON being asked to consider a re vision of the existing regulations which allow a closed motor vehicle to carry its rear light at the top of the vehicle, Mr. Stanley said that he had under consideration at the present time the desirability of amending the regulations.
Road Accidents Parliamentary Group.
frHE Viscount Cecil and ,Sir Ernest Graham Little, M.P., have been elected joint chairmen of the Road Accidents Parliamentary Group. The group met the otherc.evening and discussed the continued increase in road accidents and decided to ask the Home 8eoretary to circularize magistrates egain on the vital necessity of enforcing the law for the protection of the public under the Road Traffic Act, 1930.