Sounding Board
Page 43
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pSYCHOLOGICAL warfare is as good a term as any to . describe the attacks made on the Road Haulage Disposal Board before they were even appointed. They are not the sort of men likely to be easily rattled, and should be able without difficulty or discomfort to escape from the atmosphere of guilt with which the opponents of the Transport Act have endeavoured to surround them. At their early meetings they have probably already decided on the measure of their task.
The Transport Act allows them to a large extent to determine their own procedure and even their terms of reference. With a wide choice before them, it would he easy for a Board too much swayed by outside influences to take the wrong path. As I see it, they are subject to no discipline or authority save that of the Minister of Transport, and he has little right to interfere with their activities beyond giving directions in settlement of any dispute that may arise between the Board and the Commission on the formation or the sale of transport units.
The line of least resistance for the Board would be to leave the initiative with the British Transport Commission and merely to see that, as far as possible, the Commission comply with the provisions of the Act. The provisions with which the Board are concerned are fairly comprehensive. Each transport unit must be one that the buyer can operate as a haulage business as soon as he takes possession. There should be plenty of opportunity for the small man of limited means and the avoidance of anything approaching a monopoly. Other things being equal, the aim should be to obtain the best price.
No Justification But the safeguarding of these principles, important as they are, would not in itself justify the existence of the -Board. There is any number of ways of dividing up the road haulage undertaking strictly within the terms of the Act, but not every method is equally good, and the one chosen by the Commission need not be the best. If the Board intend to do no more than plane the rough edges of whatever structure the Commission fabricate, they might as well embark on a cruise and conduct their affairs by long-distance telephone.
At the other extreme, it would be possible for the Board to take themselves too seriously. Having no specific mandate, they might assume that their task is to formulate a fully documented plan of their own and oppose the Commission tooth and nail on any point of difference. To attempt in this way to do the whole job would be as bad as leaving everything to the Commission. There are likely, in any event, to be far too many pedlars of plans for disposal.
The third course would be for the Board to eschew a detailed plan of their own and, perhaps, even to cultivate a wholesome distrust of the kind of plan that aims to leave nothing to chance. There is-room in the next few months for a body of intelligent, practical and disinterested (but not too disinterested) men, willing to act as middlemen for all the varied and sometimes confusing ideas that are bound to be put forward, and capable of developing the best of the ideas to the best advantage.
The Board are such a body, and could almost have been chosen with this purpose in mind. The four ordinary members represent respectively the Commission, trade and industry, the hauliers and the C-licence holders. The chairman and deputy chairman may be said to represent the public, and Lord Bilsland is at hand to look after the interests of Scotland. Had the Minister had his way, there would also be a representative of the trade unions, but that is another story.
Nobody expects that the Board will always agree among themselves. One of the few standing orders laid • down in the Act provides for decisions to be taken on a majority vote. It is envisaged that at times the discussion may become somewhat heated, and on such occasions the chairman or deputy chairman may ask the Minister for a ruling.
Work for Board
Disputes of this order may arise, if at all, when details begin to come forward to the Board of the transport units formed by the Commission. Even before this stage is reached, there is active work for the Board to do in passing on to the Commission information, suggestions and plans from the world outside.
At the same time, true to their role of middleman, the Board can perform a useful function by making known relevant details about the organization of the Road Haulage Executive. Many prospective buyers of transport units know little about the vehicles that are likely to become available, and less still about the traffic which those vehicles are carrying. One can understand that information of this kind has been kept as secret as possible.
The present circumstances are exceptional, and there are good reasons for revealing at least to prospective buyers details about the R.H.E. fleet and the work it is doing. The Commission may now be willing to supply the information, but there is nothing in the Act to compel them to do so, or even to give the buyer a chance to inspect a unit before submitting his tender.
The Board, however, have the right to demand reports and information from the Commission, and would no doubt be justified in exercising that right if the taciturnity of the Commission appeared to be hampering would-be-purchasers. It may be that the Commission would be asked to publish a description of their road haulage undertaking in advance of invitations to tender, so that anybody who wanted a unit of his own choosing would be able, before it was too late, to see whether the component parts of his ideal unit existed and to present his case to the Board.
If the Cornmission were unwilling, the Board might decide to publish the details themselves. They would also perform a useful service if they published as widely as possible their advice on the sort of information they would like to have from the public and the form in which they would prefer it to be presented. There is a strong case for the Board deliberately to make their activities known. Nobody expects the Commission to give more publicity than the Act compels to the loss of a part of their assets. On the Board is likely to fail the further task of bringing the customers in, and reticence has never been considered a desirable qualification for a barker.