Bird's Eye View
Page 65
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Short-sighted
By The Hawk
A PENNY-WISE policy is being proposed by the Govern
ment in reducing transmissions of the B.B.C.'s European service. As the Society of Motor Manufacturers and -Traders point out, the, British motor industry has a large market in Western Europe. Last year products valued at about £120m. were shipped there, representing 30 per cent. of the total value of the industry's world trade. Despite fierce competition from Continental manufacturers, British makers are doing their best to increase sales across the Channel.
The B.B.C.'s broadcasts to Western Europe include information about the British. motor industry. Transmissions to Portugal, Holland and Scandinavia are to be ended, and those to France, Italy, Austria and, perhaps, Germany are to be reduced. To save £200,000 a year the Government are to do one of Britain's principal exporting industries a great disservice.
Feminine Dynamo
I F some of the men who are seeking shorter hours had to work as hard as their wives, they would probably collapse from exhaustion. Mrs. E. Heyman certainly puts them to shame. She combines the office of sales manager of Smith's Delivery Vehicles, Ltd., with the duties of homemaking, but still occasionally finds time to indulge her hobbies of writing, painting and music.
She is the first Englishwoman to be invited to speak at the annual international conference arranged by the Swiss Migros organization and held in Zurich last week. Her subject was, appropriately, Creative Leisure."
No Monkeys
AGOLDEN rule for those who try to enlist the aid of the Press is to avoid giving the impression of "making a monkey" of reporters. A situation of this kind occurred last week at a Press conference held by the Conference of Omnibus Companies, when a journalist asked to what extent the British Transport Commission were concerned in the dispute over busmen's pay.
Mr. S. Kennedy, chairman of the Tilling Association, replied that the Commission were not concerned in the dispute, but were interested in it. It required several rather testy questions to elicit the simple information that, as the B.T.C. were not legally the employer's of the staffs of the State-owned bus companies, they were taking no part in the proceedings, but were interested in the outcome.
Possibly Mr. Kennedy was not trying to " outsmart" the journalists who were his -guests, but his evasive answer did nothing to enlist sympathy for the cause of the bus companies.
Filling the Gap
TO satisfy complaints by lawyers and others about the lack of availability of recent decisions by the Transport Tribunal, The Law Journal is now publishing abstracts of them. The first series was published on July 12, but it deals with old cases. When the backlog has been cleared, cases will be reported immediately decisions are given.
The abstracts given in The Law Journal do not differ materially from those published by The Commercial Motor, but they are in the stylized form familiar to the legal profession. They also have this important difference: they are authenticated by a barrister and may, therefore, be cited in a court of law. A report of a legal case in a newspaper which does not bear a barrister's name cannot be quoted in court.
Below Par
MEMBERS of Leicester City Council squirmed when one of their colleagues slowly surveyed the city leaders to see how many would make successful bus conductors. Which councillors or aldermen could take 65 fares, count change and answer questions all within the space of three minutes, he wondered.
After studying the assembly for a few moments he reached his conclusion: "I can see no one here whom I would think capable of such a feat!"
Take It Easy
THIS is the season when motor vehicles become road 1 rollers, their owners paying 2s. 6d. a gallon tax for the privilege. Recently an R.A.C. patrolman in one day assisted 15 drivers whose windscreens had been broken by flying stones. My own was damaged by a large flint thrown up by a fast-moving lorry, so I write with feeling. There is only one course to adopt on a newly surfaced road: Take it easy.