THE C.M.U.A. AND THE ROYAL COMMISSION.
Page 57
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Some Interesting Points from the Evidence Recently Given by the President, Mr. E. S. Shrapnell-Smith, C.B.E., M.Inst.T.
MUCH of interest was contained in the evidence submitted a few days ago before the Royal Commission by the President of the Commercial Motor Users Association, Mr. E. S. Shrapnell-Smith, Minst.T., who is well known as a pioneer and most energetic worker in the cause of road transport.
He began by pointing out the principal objects of the C.M.U.A., which are to watch over and protect the interests of users of commercial motor vehicles, membership being limited to owners and users of such vehicles. Practically the whole of the country is grouped into divisions, which. are• subdivided into areas, each of which has its divisional or area committee, the result being that the Association is in close touch with users of commercial motors throughout the country. The membership is between 5,000 and 6,000 individuals, firms or companies, owning a total of more than 100,000 road motors. They include haulage contractors, bus and coach proprietors, and traders running their own transport, membership being approximately classed as follows :--Traesport contractors, 25 per cent.; coach proprietors, 10 per cent.; producers and traders, 65 per cent.
Little Development of Road Transport by Railways.
He referred to the fact that the development of road transport by motor has not been at the hands of the railway companies, except to an almost negligible degree. Continuous pioneering and work have been undertaken by non-railway enterprise to meet the demands and requirements of producers and traders. Nen-railway operators, by providing an alternative to the railway service, have greatly assisted trade and industry in the country and have furnished travelling facilities to. the remote country districts and elsewhere.
There has been a steady diminution of profitable working in goods haulage by road since the year 1921, except where contractors are linked up with special trades. Large numbers of hauliers who were apparently flourishing at that time have since gone out of business.
The raising of the railway rates in September, 1920, gave a great but artificial stimulus to road transport, and the sudden accession of large nunibers of lowpriced, war-returned vehicles in the hands of ownerdrivers without business training caused a grave upset to the stable portions of the industry. Some of the evil consequences still remain in the difficulty of establishing economic rates for services rendered.
Goods Mostly Carried in Traders' Own Vehicles.
The bulk of road-borne goods is carried in traders' own vehicles, the Association's estimate being 80 per cent, for this and 20 per cent, by hauliers' vehicles. The trader uses his own vehicles for transport because he can get into direct contact with his customers and keep his transport under his own control.
As regards the national importance of the roads, it cannot fairly be claimed that all the expenditure is exclusively the concern of the carriage way or motor traffic. It includes tree planting and the upkeep of fences, footpaths, sea walls, ferries, etc. Apart from this, the highway serves many interests, being a right of way for all subjects of tile King, including pedestrians and cyclists, filling also many naval and military requirements, whilst the railways depend upon it for all but their siding-to-siding traffic.
Without highways property could not he developed.
They are used by the Post Office for telephone and telegraphic posts and cables, by local authorities for sewers, and by gas, electricity and water suppliers for their services. In many areas they are the main channels of access for light and air.Ratepayers obtain the advantages of these numerous non-traffic services. They are not paying highway rates solely for the benefit of motor traffic.
The Incidence of Highway Rates.
Mr. Shrapnel-Smith drew the attention of the Commissioners to the 1918 report of the Departmental Committee appointed to consider the law and regulations relating to the construCtion and use, of road locomotives and heavy motorcars in Great Britain, hi which it was stated that highways expenditure "can, and should he, equitably adjusted between local rates, the National Exchequer and -the users of the roads."
The Association ‘dissents from the views which have been expressed on behalf of the railways in respect of the unfairness to them of the incidence of highway rates. Assuming these amount to as much as £1,600,000 a year, and that the railways pay in addition, perhaps, £150,000 in licence duties, these combined paythents are not out of proportion -to the use which they make of the highways of the country. If the railways were totally excluded from these rates and if they gave the whole benefit to trade and industry, this would average less than lid. per ton for the full distances.
The railways own more than 30,000 horse-drawn vehicles, many thousands of which are used in congested towns and cities where they obstruct other traffic to a large degree. None of these vehicles pays direct taxation.
The Effects of the 1928 Budget.
The position as between road transport and the general body of ratepayers, and particularly as between the road motors and the railways, was materially altered by the 1928 Budget. The new tax of 4d. per gallon on petrol makes a great change. The railways' point is that they gain no direct finan cial advantage. • The Association submits that the effectiveness of means • of inland transport will not be increased by any artificial raising of burdens upon road transport.
All motor coaches and buses having pneumatic tyres on all wheels might well be classed with cars in respect of the permitted speeds. The Association is of the opinion that the dividing line of unladen weight between motorcars and heavy motorcars should be raised from 2 tons to 2 tons.
Conveyance by rail is not the same service as conveyance by road, and the Association does not accept the view that public requirements are necessarily met sufficiently well because a railway service exists between two given places. Mechanical transport by road now suffers the great disability of bearing heavy annual taxation, i.e., a petrol tax, the proceeds of which are in part used to subsidize railway transport. Road transport in cities such as Liverpool now suffers acutely from the absence of any comparable tee ation upon horsed vehicles. It is suggested that the owner of a heavy motor vehicle, the use of which is guaranteed to be limited to any city the municipal council of which concurs in the application, shall pay not more than one-quarter of the customary licence duty. The Association is of the opinion that there is no advantage to be derived from developing a privately owned system of toll motor roads.